Electronic device and display control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A mobile communication device is provided. The mobile communication includes a first touch display forming a portion of a first surface of the mobile communication device, a second touch display forming a portion of a second surface of the mobile communication device, and a processor configured to display in the first touch display a first screen corresponding to an application executed in a first folding state while a state of the device is the first folding state, identify the state of the mobile communication device changing to a second folding state, and display in the second touch display, based on the identification, a second screen corresponding to the application and an image partially overlapping the second screen, a touch input on the second touch display while the second screen and the image are displayed in the second touch display as overlapping is configured to not be processed as an input.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application number 10-2019-0019500, filed onFeb. 19, 2019, and a Korean patent application number 10-2019-0142828,filed on Nov. 8, 2019, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, thedisclosures of each of which are herein incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The disclosure relates to an electronic device. More particularly, thedisclosure relates to an electronic device including one or moredisplays.

2. Description of Related Art

With the growth of related technologies, electronic devices such as asmart phone have evolved to offer various essential or optionalfunctions to users. In order for the user to easily access suchfunctions, the electronic device includes a touch-sensitive display suchas a touch screen and is capable of providing screens of variousapplications through the display.

Recently, in order to increase portability, a flexible display, and as amore improved form, a fully foldable display have been developed. Theelectronic device having such a foldable display can use a large displaysize in an unfolded state and also can reduce the entire volume thereofin a folded state. It is therefore possible to increase both usabilityand portability. Alternatively, the electronic device may include aplurality of displays separated from each other.

In case of the electronic device including the foldable display or theplurality of separated displays, the user takes an action of folding orunfolding the electronic device while directly gripping the housing ofthe electronic device. During this action, the user may often touch aportion of the display. Because the display and a touch sensor thereofare in an activated state, a user's unintentional touch on the displaymay be detected by the touch sensor and thereby causing any operation ofapplication.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the disclosure. No determination hasbeen made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the disclosure are to address at least the above-mentionedproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure is to providean electronic device and a control method thereof for processing, to beadapted for a user's intention, a touch event caused by a touch inputgenerated during a folding or unfolding action.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide an electronic device anda control method thereof for appropriately configuring an applicationscreen according to state information of an application during a foldingor unfolding action.

Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may belearned by practice of the presented embodiments.

A mobile communication device may comprise a first touch display formingat least a portion of a first surface of the mobile communicationdevice, a second touch display forming at least a portion of a secondsurface of the mobile communication device, and a processor configuredto display in the first touch display a first screen corresponding to anapplication that is executed in a first folding state while a state ofthe mobile communication device is the first folding state, identify thestate of the mobile communication device changing to a second foldingstate, and display in the second touch display, based on theidentification, a second screen corresponding to the application and animage at least partially overlapping the second screen, wherein a touchinput that is input on the second touch display while the second screenand the image are displayed in the second touch display as overlappingis configured to not be processed as an input on at least the portion ofthe second screen.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device in anetwork environment according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing an unfolded state and a folded stateof an electronic device according to various embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 4F are perspective views showing a usedstate of an electronic device in a folding or unfolding operationaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according toan embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a display-related configurationof an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating software layers of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a drawing engine of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing a touch eventdetected in a folding operation at an electronic device according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, and 10F are screenshots showing a touchlock screen displayed on an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D, and 11E are screenshots showing a screendisplayed on each display of an electronic device in a folding operationaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are screenshots showing a screen displayedon each display of an electronic device in a folding operation accordingto various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 13A, 13B, 13C, and 13D are screenshots showing a screen displayedon each display of an electronic device in a folding operation accordingto various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a screenshot showing a screen displayed on each display of anelectronic device in an unfolding operation according to an embodimentof the disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a screenshot showing a screen displayed on each display of anelectronic device in an unfolding operation according to an embodimentof the disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 19A, 19B, and 19C are perspective views showing a used state of anelectronic device of a vertical folding type in a folding or unfoldingoperation according to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 20A, 20B, and 20C are screenshots showing a screen displayed oneach display of an electronic device in a folding operation according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 21A, 21B, and 21C are perspective views showing a used state of anelectronic device of an out-folding type in a folding or unfoldingoperation according to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a drawing engine of anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 24A and 24B are block diagrams illustrating a drawing engine of anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 25A, 25B, 25C, and 25D are screenshots showing a screen displayedon a display of an electronic device in an out-folding operationaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing a touch eventdetected in a folding operation at an electronic device according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 27 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing an electronic device in which apart of housing structures is rotatable 360 degrees according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 29A and 29B are perspective views showing an electronic devicehaving a plurality of displays on one surface of a housing according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIGS. 31A and 31B are views showing a G-shape foldable electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 32A, 32B, and 32C are views showing an S-shape foldable electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the disclosure;

FIGS. 33A and 33B are views showing an electronic device having arollable display according to various embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 34 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The same reference numerals are used to represent the same elementsthroughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thedisclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions andconstructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of thedisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of thedisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device in anetwork environment according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1A, an electronic device 101 in a network environment100 may communicate with an electronic device 102 via a first network198 (e.g., a short-range wireless communication network), or anelectronic device 104 or a server 108 via a second network 199 (e.g., along-range wireless communication network). According to an embodiment,the electronic device 101 may communicate with the electronic device 104via the server 108. According to an embodiment, the electronic device101 may include a processor 120, memory 130, an input device 150, asound output device 155, a display device 160, an audio module 170, asensor module 176, an interface 177, a haptic module 179, a cameramodule 180, a power management module 188, a battery 189, acommunication module 190, a subscriber identification module (SIM) 196,or an antenna module 197. In some embodiments, at least one (e.g., thedisplay device 160 or the camera module 180) of the components may beomitted from the electronic device 101, or one or more other componentsmay be added in the electronic device 101. In some embodiments, some ofthe components may be implemented as single integrated circuitry. Forexample, the sensor module 176 (e.g., a fingerprint sensor, an irissensor, or an illuminance sensor) may be implemented as embedded in thedisplay device 160 (e.g., a display).

The processor 120 may execute, for example, software (e.g., a program140) to control at least one other component (e.g., a hardware orsoftware component) of the electronic device 101 coupled with theprocessor 120, and may perform various data processing or computation.According to one embodiment, as at least part of the data processing orcomputation, the processor 120 may load a command or data received fromanother component (e.g., the sensor module 176 or the communicationmodule 190) in volatile memory 132, process the command or the datastored in the volatile memory 132, and store resulting data innon-volatile memory 134. According to an embodiment, the processor 120may include a main processor 121 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU)or an application processor (AP)), and an auxiliary processor 123 (e.g.,a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), asensor hub processor, or a communication processor (CP)) that isoperable independently from, or in conjunction with, the main processor121. Additionally or alternatively, the auxiliary processor 123 may beadapted to consume less power than the main processor 121, or to bespecific to a specified function. The auxiliary processor 123 may beimplemented as separate from, or as part of the main processor 121.

The auxiliary processor 123 may control at least some of functions orstates related to at least one component (e.g., the display device 160,the sensor module 176, or the communication module 190) among thecomponents of the electronic device 101, instead of the main processor121 while the main processor 121 is in an inactive (e.g., sleep) state,or together with the main processor 121 while the main processor 121 isin an activated state (e.g., executing an application). According to anembodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., an image signal processoror a communication processor) may be implemented as part of anothercomponent (e.g., the camera module 180 or the communication module 190)functionally related to the auxiliary processor 123.

The memory 130 may store various data used by at least one component(e.g., the processor 120 or the sensor module 176) of the electronicdevice 101. The various data may include, for example, software (e.g.,the program 140) and input data or output data for a command relatedthereto. The memory 130 may include the volatile memory 132 or thenon-volatile memory 134.

The program 140 may be stored in the memory 130 as software, and mayinclude, for example, an operating system (OS) 142, middleware 144, oran application 146.

The input device 150 may receive a command or data to be used by othercomponent (e.g., the processor 120) of the electronic device 101, fromthe outside (e.g., a user) of the electronic device 101. The inputdevice 150 may include, for example, a microphone, a mouse, a keyboard,or a digital pen (e.g., a stylus pen).

The sound output device 155 may output sound signals to the outside ofthe electronic device 101. The sound output device 155 may include, forexample, a speaker or a receiver. The speaker may be used for generalpurposes, such as playing multimedia or playing record, and the receivermay be used for an incoming calls. According to an embodiment, thereceiver may be implemented as separate from, or as part of the speaker.

The display device 160 may visually provide information to the outside(e.g., a user) of the electronic device 101. The display device 160 mayinclude, for example, a display, a hologram device, or a projector andcontrol circuitry to control a corresponding one of the display,hologram device, and projector. According to an embodiment, the displaydevice 160 may include touch circuitry adapted to detect a touch, orsensor circuitry (e.g., a pressure sensor) adapted to measure theintensity of force incurred by the touch.

The audio module 170 may convert a sound into an electrical signal andvice versa. According to an embodiment, the audio module 170 may obtainthe sound via the input device 150, or output the sound via the soundoutput device 155 or a headphone of an external electronic device (e.g.,an electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wiredly) or wirelessly coupledwith the electronic device 101.

The sensor module 176 may detect an operational state (e.g., power ortemperature) of the electronic device 101 or an environmental state(e.g., a state of a user) external to the electronic device 101, andthen generate an electrical signal or data value corresponding to thedetected state. According to an embodiment, the sensor module 176 mayinclude, for example, a gesture sensor, a gyro sensor, an atmosphericpressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gripsensor, a proximity sensor, a color sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, abiometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or anilluminance sensor.

The interface 177 may support one or more specified protocols to be usedfor the electronic device 101 to be coupled with the external electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wiredly) orwirelessly. According to an embodiment, the interface 177 may include,for example, a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a universalserial bus (USB) interface, a secure digital (SD) card interface, or anaudio interface.

A connecting terminal 178 may include a connector via which theelectronic device 101 may be physically connected with the externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102). According to anembodiment, the connecting terminal 178 may include, for example, a HDMIconnector, a USB connector, a SD card connector, or an audio connector(e.g., a headphone connector).

The haptic module 179 may convert an electrical signal into a mechanicalstimulus (e.g., a vibration or a movement) or electrical stimulus whichmay be recognized by a user via his tactile sensation or kinestheticsensation. According to an embodiment, the haptic module 179 mayinclude, for example, a motor, a piezoelectric element, or an electricstimulator.

The camera module 180 may capture a still image or moving images.According to an embodiment, the camera module 180 may include one ormore lenses, image sensors, image signal processors, or flashes.

The power management module 188 may manage power supplied to theelectronic device 101. According to one embodiment, the power managementmodule 188 may be implemented as at least part of, for example, a powermanagement integrated circuit (PMIC).

The battery 189 may supply power to at least one component of theelectronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the battery 189 mayinclude, for example, a primary cell which is not rechargeable, asecondary cell which is rechargeable, or a fuel cell.

The communication module 190 may support establishing a direct (e.g.,wired) communication channel or a wireless communication channel betweenthe electronic device 101 and the external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 102, the electronic device 104, or the server 108) andperforming communication via the established communication channel. Thecommunication module 190 may include one or more communicationprocessors that are operable independently from the processor 120 (e.g.,the application processor (AP)) and supports a direct (e.g., wired)communication or a wireless communication. According to an embodiment,the communication module 190 may include a wireless communication module192 (e.g., a cellular communication module, a short-range wirelesscommunication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (e.g., a localarea network (LAN) communication module or a power line communication(PLC) module). A corresponding one of these communication modules maycommunicate with the external electronic device via the first network198 (e.g., a short-range communication network, such as Bluetooth™wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) direct, or infrared data association (IrDA))or the second network 199 (e.g., a long-range communication network,such as a cellular network, the Internet, or a computer network (e.g.,LAN or wide area network (WAN)). These various types of communicationmodules may be implemented as a single component (e.g., a single chip),or may be implemented as multi components (e.g., multi chips) separatefrom each other. The wireless communication module 192 may identify andauthenticate the electronic device 101 in a communication network, suchas the first network 198 or the second network 199, using subscriberinformation (e.g., international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI))stored in the subscriber identification module 196.

The antenna module 197 may transmit or receive a signal or power to orfrom the outside (e.g., the external electronic device) of theelectronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the antenna module197 may include an antenna including a radiating element composed of aconductive material or a conductive pattern formed in or on a substrate(e.g., PCB). According to an embodiment, the antenna module 197 mayinclude a plurality of antennas. In such a case, at least one antennaappropriate for a communication scheme used in the communicationnetwork, such as the first network 198 or the second network 199, may beselected, for example, by the communication module 190 (e.g., thewireless communication module 192) from the plurality of antennas. Thesignal or the power may then be transmitted or received between thecommunication module 190 and the external electronic device via theselected at least one antenna. According to an embodiment, anothercomponent (e.g., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)) other thanthe radiating element may be additionally formed as part of the antennamodule 197.

At least some of the above-described components may be coupled mutuallyand communicate signals (e.g., commands or data) therebetween via aninter-peripheral communication scheme (e.g., a bus, general purposeinput and output (GPIO), serial peripheral interface (SPI), or mobileindustry processor interface (MIPI)).

According to an embodiment, commands or data may be transmitted orreceived between the electronic device 101 and the external electronicdevice 104 via the server 108 coupled with the second network 199. Eachof the electronic devices 102 and 104 may be a device of a same type as,or a different type, from the electronic device 101. According to anembodiment, all or some of operations to be executed at the electronicdevice 101 may be executed at one or more of the external electronicdevices 102, 104, or 108. For example, if the electronic device 101should perform a function or a service automatically, or in response toa request from a user or another device, the electronic device 101,instead of, or in addition to, executing the function or the service,may request the one or more external electronic devices to perform atleast part of the function or the service. The one or more externalelectronic devices receiving the request may perform the at least partof the function or the service requested, or an additional function oran additional service related to the request, and transfer an outcome ofthe performing to the electronic device 101. The electronic device 101may provide the outcome, with or without further processing of theoutcome, as at least part of a reply to the request. To that end, acloud computing, distributed computing, or client-server computingtechnology may be used, for example.

The electronic device according to various embodiments may be one ofvarious types of electronic devices. The electronic devices may include,for example, a portable communication device (e.g., a smartphone), acomputer device, a portable multimedia device, a portable medicaldevice, a camera, a wearable device, or a home appliance. According toan embodiment of the disclosure, the electronic devices are not limitedto those described above.

It should be appreciated that various embodiments of the disclosure andthe terms used therein are not intended to limit the technologicalfeatures set forth herein to particular embodiments and include variouschanges, equivalents, or replacements for a corresponding embodiment.With regard to the description of the drawings, similar referencenumerals may be used to refer to similar or related elements. It is tobe understood that a singular form of a noun corresponding to an itemmay include one or more of the things, unless the relevant contextclearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, each of such phrases as “Aor B”, “at least one of A and B”, “at least one of A or B”, “A, B, orC”, “at least one of A, B, and C”, and “at least one of A, B, or C” mayinclude all possible combinations of the items enumerated together in acorresponding one of the phrases. As used herein, such terms as “1^(st)”and “2^(nd)”, or “first” and “second” may be used to simply distinguisha corresponding component from another, and does not limit thecomponents in other aspect (e.g., importance or order). It is to beunderstood that if an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to,with or without the term “operatively” or “communicatively”, as “coupledwith”, “coupled to”, “connected with”, or “connected to” another element(e.g., a second element), it means that the element may be coupled withthe other element directly (e.g., wiredly), wirelessly, or via a thirdelement.

As used herein, the term “module” may include a unit implemented inhardware, software, or firmware, and may interchangeably be used withother terms, for example, “logic”, “logic block”, “part”, or“circuitry”. A module may be a single integral component, or a minimumunit or part thereof, adapted to perform one or more functions. Forexample, according to an embodiment, the module may be implemented in aform of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

Various embodiments as set forth herein may be implemented as software(e.g., the program 140) including one or more instructions that arestored in a storage medium (e.g., internal memory 136 or external memory138) that is readable by a machine (e.g., the electronic device 101).For example, a processor (e.g., the processor 120) of the machine (e.g.,the electronic device 101) may invoke at least one of the one or moreinstructions stored in the storage medium, and execute it, with orwithout using one or more other components under the control of theprocessor. This allows the machine to be operated to perform at leastone function according to the at least one instruction invoked. The oneor more instructions may include a code generated by a complier or acode executable by an interpreter. The machine-readable storage mediummay be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Wherein,the term “non-transitory” simply means that the storage medium is atangible device, and does not include a signal (e.g., an electromagneticwave), but this term does not differentiate between where data issemi-permanently stored in the storage medium and where the data istemporarily stored in the storage medium.

According to an embodiment, a method according to various embodiments ofthe disclosure may be included and provided in a computer programproduct. The computer program product may be traded as a product betweena seller and a buyer. The computer program product may be distributed inthe form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM)), or be distributed (e.g., downloaded or uploaded)online via an application store (e.g., PlayStore™), or between two userdevices (e.g., smart phones) directly. If distributed online, at leastpart of the computer program product may be temporarily generated or atleast temporarily stored in the machine-readable storage medium, such asmemory of the manufacturer's server, a server of the application store,or a relay server.

According to various embodiments, each component (e.g., a module or aprogram) of the above-described components may include a single entityor multiple entities. According to various embodiments, one or more ofthe above-described components may be omitted, or one or more othercomponents may be added. Alternatively or additionally, a plurality ofcomponents (e.g., modules or programs) may be integrated into a singlecomponent. In such a case, according to various embodiments, theintegrated component may still perform one or more functions of each ofthe plurality of components in the same or similar manner as they areperformed by a corresponding one of the plurality of components beforethe integration. According to various embodiments, operations performedby the module, the program, or another component may be carried outsequentially, in parallel, repeatedly, or heuristically, or one or moreof the operations may be executed in a different order or omitted, orone or more other operations may be added.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the electronic device 101 according to variousembodiments may include at least one display 160, a processor 120, and amemory 130. Some of such components of the electronic device 101 may beomitted or replaced.

According to various embodiments, the components of the electronicdevice 101 are disposed in a housing of the electronic device 101, andthe at least one display 160 may be seen from the outside in thehousing.

According to various embodiments, the housing may be folded through ahinge structure. In areas of the housing separated by folding, therespective displays 160 or respective regions of the display 160 may bedisposed.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device 101 may includeone or more displays 160, at least one of which may include a touchsensor.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device 101 may beconfigured with various form factors. For example, the electronic device101 may have an in-folding foldable display structure, an out-foldingfoldable display structure, a dual display structure, a G-type foldingstructure, an S-type folding structure, or a rollable display structure.

In the in-folding foldable display structure, the electronic deviceincludes a foldable display, which has first and second areas separatedfrom each other based on a folding axis and facing each other when theelectronic device is folded. Therefore, when folding is completed, most(or all) of the display may not be exposed to the user. In thein-folding foldable display structure, the foldable display may bedisposed on a first surface of the housing, and a non-foldable displaymay be disposed on a second surface of the housing. Therefore, in afolded state, the foldable display may not be seen from the outside, andthe non-foldable display may be seen from the outside. According to someembodiments, the electronic device having the in-folding foldabledisplay structure may include only the foldable display on the firstsurface and may not include a separate display on the second surface.

The in-folding foldable display structure will be described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 2A to 4F.

In the out-folding foldable display structure, the electronic deviceincludes a foldable display, which has first and second areas separatedfrom each other based on a folding axis and disposed on opposite sides,respectively, to be seen from the outside when the electronic device isfolded. In a folded state, the user can view a screen through the firstarea or the second area. In the out-folding foldable display structureas well, the foldable display may be disposed on the first surface ofthe housing, and a separate display may or may not be disposed on thesecond surface.

The out-folding foldable display structure will be described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 21A to 21C.

In the dual display structure, the electronic device includes twodisplays physically separated from each other on one surface of thehousing. For example, the housing of the electronic device may includefirst and second housing structures which are foldable with each other,and first and second displays may be disposed in the first and secondhousing structures, respectively. Each of the first and second housingstructures may be folded in an in-folding or out-folding manner. Whenfolded, the first and second displays may face each other in case ofin-folding, and may be seen through opposite sides in case ofout-folding. In addition, the electronic device having the dual displaystructure may further include a separate display on the other surface ofthe housing opposite to one surface on which the first and seconddisplays are disposed.

The dual display structure will be described in detail with reference toFIGS. 29A and 29B.

The G-type folding structure is one of structures capable of foldingbased on two folding axes. The electronic device of the G-type foldingstructure may include, on one surface of the housing, a display that canbe folded in three layers based on two folding axes. The display may bedivided into a first area, a second area, and a third area, based on twofolding axes. When the electronic device is folded, the first area mayface the second area, and the third area may face the opposite side ofthe first area. Therefore, in a folded state, the display may not beseen from the outside.

The G-type folding structure will be described in detail with referenceto FIGS. 31A and 31B.

The S-type folding structure is a structure capable of folding based ontwo folding axes like the G-type folding structure, but a part of thedisplay may be seen from the outside in a folded state unlike the G-typefolding structure.

The electronic device of the S-type folding structure includes a firsthousing structure, a second housing structure, and a third housingstructure, which are distinguished based on two folding axes. A foldablefirst display may be disposed on one surface of the first and secondhousing structures, and a non-foldable second display may be disposed onone surface of the third housing structure. The surface on which thesecond display is disposed may be opposite to the surface on which thefirst display is disposed in an unfolded state of the electronic device.When the electronic device is folded, first and second areas of thefirst display which are divided based on one folding axis may face eachother, and the second display may be seen from the outside.

The S-type folding structure will be described in detail with referenceto FIGS. 32A to 32C.

The rollable display structure refers to a structure in which theelectronic device can be rolled up.

The rollable display structure will be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 33A and 33B.

The electronic device according to various embodiments may have awidthwise folding structure (or a horizontal folding structure) or alengthwise folding structure (or a vertical folding structure). Thewidthwise folding structure refers to a structure capable of folding thefoldable display in a left and right direction based on a folding axiswhich extends vertically, and the lengthwise folding structure refers toa structure capable of folding the foldable display in an up and downdirection based on a folding axis which extends horizontally.

In the disclosure, descriptions will be focused on the widthwise foldingstructure. However, various embodiments about the in-folding foldabledisplay structure, the out-folding foldable display structure, the dualdisplay structure, and the like may also be implemented as thelengthwise folding structure. The lengthwise (i.e., vertical) foldingstructure will be described for example with reference to FIGS. 19A to19C.

According to various embodiments, the memory 130 may include a volatilememory and a nonvolatile memory, which are known in the art and notlimited to specific implementation. The memory 130 may include at leastsome of configurations and/or functions of the memory 130 shown in FIG.1A. In addition, the memory 130 may store at least a part of the program140 shown in FIG. 1A.

The memory 130 may store various instructions being executable by theprocessor 120. Such instructions may include various control commandsrecognizable to the processor 120 in connection with arithmetic andlogical operations, data transfer, input/output, and/or the like.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 is configured toperform operations or data processing related to control and/orcommunication of components of the electronic device 101, and mayinclude at least some of configurations and/or functions of theprocessor 120 shown in FIG. 1A. The processor 120 may be functionally,operatively, and/or electrically connected to internal components of theelectronic device 101 including the at least one display 160 and thememory 130.

The operation and data processing functions that can be implemented bythe processor 120 in the electronic device 101 are not limited. However,in the disclosure, descriptions will be focused on operations ofprocessing a touch event and operations of displaying an applicationscreen seamlessly when a folding or unfolding gesture occurs. Theoperations of the processor 120 to be described hereinafter may beperformed by loading instructions stored in the memory 130.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may display a screenof an application on the at least one display 160 while the electronicdevice 101 is in an unfolded state. For example, when the electronicdevice 101 includes a foldable display (e.g., an in-folding foldabledisplay or an out-folding foldable display), the processor 120 maydisplay the application screen on the foldable display being in anunfolded state. When the electronic device 101 includes a dual display,the processor 120 may display the application screen on one part of thedual display, or divide the screen and display divided portions throughfirst and second displays, respectively.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may detect a foldinggesture when the electronic device 101 is in an unfolded state. Thefolding gesture may refer to a user's action of folding a part of theelectronic device 101 based on the folding axis by applying force to theelectronic device 101 being in the unfolded state. For example, when theelectronic device 101 has an in-folding foldable display structurecomposed of first and second housing structures, the user may inwardlyfold the electronic device while holding front and rear sides of thefirst housing structure with his right hand and also holding front andrear sides of the second housing structure with his left hand. Theelectronic device 101 may include a sensor (not shown) for sensing thefolding of the electronic device 101. The sensor may detect a foldinggesture through a rotation angle of a part of the housing on the foldingaxis.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 can determine thefolding state based on the angle formed by the folding axis. Forexample, when the angle formed by a first area and a second area,separated based on the folding axis, is close to a completely foldedangle (e.g., 0° or 10°), the processor determines that the device is inthe folding state (or a first folding state). If the angle is close to acompletely unfolded angle (e.g., 170° or 180°), the processor determinesthat the device is in an unfolding state (or a second folding state).According to various embodiments, unfolding

According to various embodiments, when a folding gesture is started, theprocessor 120 may stop transmission of a touch event to each display160. This is because a touch on the display 160 during the foldinggesture is not a user's intention. In some embodiments, when the foldinggesture is started, the processor 120 may ignore a received touch eventrather than request the touch sensor to stop transmitting the touchevent. That is, even if a touch event is received, it may not beprovided to an application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may cancel a touchevent (e.g., a press event or a release event) having been provided toan application before the folding gesture is started. For example, theprocessor 120 may cancel the execution of the application to be carriedin response to the touch event, or cancel the execution of theapplication having been already carried in response to the touch event.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the processor 120 may provide an application with a cancel eventcorresponding to a touch event previously provided. For example, even ifa press event actually occurs during the folding gesture, it is not auser's intention. Thus, the processor 120 may provide the cancel eventto the application even if the press event is received from the touchsensor. This prevents the application from being operated wrongly byrecognizing a touch for folding as a touch event.

According to various embodiments, when the electronic device 101 isfolded, the processor 120 may change an area of the display 160 todisplay an application. For example, when the electronic device 101 hasan in-folding foldable display structure, an application screen may bedisplayed using both a foldable first display disposed on one housingsurface and a non-foldable second display disposed on the other housingsurface. When the electronic device has an out-folding foldable displaystructure, the application screen may be displayed on any one of firstand second areas separated based on a folding axis of a foldabledisplay. In case where most of a display is not viewed to the user amongthe above-described various form factors (e.g., in case where there isno rear display in the in-folding foldable display structure or in thedual display structure), the application is no longer displayed and maybe operated in the background when the electronic device is folded.

According to various embodiments, as the area in which the applicationis displayed is changed, the processor 120 may generate an applicationscreen based on the attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, and thelike) of the changed area. The processor 120 may provide the applicationwith a folding event and also attribute information of an area in whichthe application will be displayed after folding.

For example, in case where the electronic device 101 has an in-foldingfoldable display structure, the processor 120 may generate theapplication screen based on the attributes (e.g., size, ratio,resolution) of the second display when folding. In case where theelectronic device has an out-folding foldable display structure, theprocessor 120 may generate, when folding, the application screen basedon the attributes of an area (e.g., being placed in a user's gazedirection) selected from the first and second areas.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may determinewhether an execution screen of an application is resizable.

When the application displayed on the display 160 in an unfolded stateis a resizable application (e.g., an Internet browser), and when afolding gesture is detected, the processor 120 may resize a screen ofthe application based on the attributes of the changed display area.

When the application displayed on the display 160 in an unfolded stateis a non-resizable application (e.g., a game application), and when afolding gesture is detected, the processor 120 may output a menu forselecting a restart (i.e., re-execution) or continuation (i.e.,continued execution) of the application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may generate a touchlock screen in response to a folding gesture, and display the touch lockscreen in an area to display an application screen after folding. Thetouch lock screen may be determined according to state information(e.g., security level and/or whether being resizable) of the runningapplication.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may display thetouch lock screen on an upper layer of the screen to be displayed on thechanged area when folding. The processor 120 may display the touch lockscreen in the foreground to cover the screen of the top-levelapplication on the z-order, thereby preventing an unintended touch eventfrom being transmitted to the application.

According to various embodiments, after displaying the touch lockscreen, the processor 120 may process a touch event received from thetouch sensor of the display 160 on which the application executionscreen is displayed. After displaying the touch lock screen, theprocessor 120 may release the touch lock screen in response to a touchevent received from the display 160 and provide the touch event to theapplication being executed.

According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may operate in anon-secure mode, a weak secure mode, or a strong secure mode, dependingon a security level assigned to an application. When folding, theprocessor 120 may generate and display the touch lock screencorresponding to the security level of the application being executed.Alternatively, based on the attributes of a folding gesture, theprocessor 120 may determine the security level or the execution mode.

FIG. 2A is a view showing an unfolded state of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device may include afirst display and a second display which are separated from each other.The first display may be foldable, and the second display may benon-foldable.

Referring to FIG. 2A, an electronic device 200 may include a pair ofhousing structures 210 and 220 that are rotatably combined with eachother through a hinge structure (e.g., a hinge structure 264 in FIG. 3),a hinge cover 265 that covers a foldable portion of the pair of housingstructures 210 and 220, and a first display 230 (e.g., a flexibledisplay or a foldable display) that is disposed in a space formed by thepair of housing structures 210 and 220. In the disclosure, a surface onwhich the display 230 is disposed is defined as a front surface (or afirst surface) of the electronic device 200, and the opposite surface ofthe front surface is defined as a rear surface (or a second surface) ofthe electronic device 200. Also, a surface surrounding a space betweenthe front and rear surfaces is defined as a lateral surface of theelectronic device 200.

In an embodiment, the pair of housing structures 210 and 220 may includea first housing structure 210 having a sensor area 231 d, a secondhousing structure 220, a first rear cover 240, and a second rear cover250. The pair of housing structures 210 and 220 of the electronic device200 is not limited to the shape and configuration shown in FIGS. 2A and2B, and may be implemented with any other shape and configuration. Forexample, in another embodiment, the first housing structure 210 and thefirst rear cover 240 may be integrally formed, and also the secondhousing structure 220 and the second rear cover 250 may be integrallyformed.

In an embodiment, the first housing structure 210 and the second housingstructure 220 are disposed at both sides with respect to a folding axis(indicated by ‘A’), and may have a generally symmetric shape withrespect to the folding axis (A). As will be described later, the firstand second housing structures 210 and 220 may have different angles ordistances therebetween, depending on whether the electronic device 200is in an unfolded state (also referred to as a flat state or an openstate), a folded state (also referred to as a closed state), or anintermediate state. In the illustrated embodiment, contrary to thesecond housing structure 220, the first housing structure 210 has thesensor area 231 d in which various sensors are disposed. Excepting this,both housing structures may be symmetrical in shape. In anotherembodiment, the sensor area 231 d may be alternatively or additionallydisposed in the second housing structure 220.

In an embodiment, the first housing structure 210 is connected to thehinge structure (e.g., the hinge structure 264 in FIG. 3) and mayinclude a first surface 211 corresponding to a portion of the frontsurface of the electronic device 200 and facing in a first direction, asecond surface 212 corresponding to a portion of the rear surface of theelectronic device 200 and facing in a second direction opposite to thefirst direction, and a first lateral member 213 partially surrounding aspace between the first surface 211 and the second surface 212. In anembodiment, the first lateral member 213 may include a first lateralsurface 213 a disposed in parallel with the folding axis (A), a secondlateral surface 213 b extended perpendicularly to the folding axis (A)from one end of the first lateral surface 213 a, and a third lateralsurface 213 c extended perpendicularly to the folding axis (A) from theother end of the first lateral surface 213 a.

In an embodiment, the second housing structure 220 is connected to thehinge structure (e.g., the hinge structure 264 in FIG. 3) and mayinclude a third surface 221 corresponding to a portion of the frontsurface of the electronic device 200 and facing in a third direction, afour surface 222 corresponding to a portion of the rear surface of theelectronic device 200 and facing in a fourth direction opposite to thethird direction, and a second lateral member 223 partially surrounding aspace between the third surface 221 and the fourth surface 222. In anembodiment, the second lateral member 213 may include a fourth lateralsurface 223 a disposed in parallel with the folding axis (A), a fifthlateral surface 223 b extended perpendicularly to the folding axis (A)from one end of the fourth lateral surface 223 a, and a sixth lateralsurface 223 c extended perpendicularly to the folding axis (A) from theother end of the fourth lateral surface 223 a. In the folded state, thefirst surface 211 and the third surface 221 may face each other.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 200 may include a recess 201formed through a structural shape coupling of the first and secondhousing structures 210 and 220 to accommodate the display 230 therein.The recess 201 may have the substantially same size as the display 230.In an embodiment, the recess 201 may have two or more different widthsin a direction perpendicular to the folding axis (A) because of thesensor area 231 d. For example, the recess 201 may have a first width(w1) between a first portion 220 a of the second housing structure 220parallel to the folding axis (A) and a first portion 210 a of the firsthousing structure 210 formed at one edge of the sensor area 231 d, and asecond width (w2) between a second portion 220 b of the second housingstructure 220 parallel to the folding axis (A) and a second portion 210b of the first housing structure 210 not corresponding to the sensorarea 231 d and being parallel to the folding axis (A). In this case, thesecond width (w2) may be greater than the first width (w1). That is, thefirst portion 210 a of the first housing structure 210 and the firstportion 220 a of the second housing structure 220, which haveasymmetrical shapes, form the first width (w1) of the recess 201,whereas the second portion 210 b of the first housing structure 210 andthe second portion 220 b of the second housing structure 220, which havesymmetrical shapes, form the second width (w2) of the recess 201. In anembodiment, the first portion 210 a and the second portion 210 b of thefirst housing structure 210 may have different distances from thefolding axis (A). The width of the recess 201 is not limited to theillustrated example. In various embodiments, the recess 201 may have twoor more different widths depending on the shape of the sensor area 231 dor asymmetrical shapes of the first and second housing structures 210and 220.

In an embodiment, at least a portion of the first and second housingstructures 210 and 220 may be formed of a metallic or non-metallicmaterial having a selected rigidity value to support the display 230.

In an embodiment, the sensor area 231 d may be formed to occupy acertain region adjacent to one corner of the first housing structure210. The arrangement, shape, and size of the sensor area 231 d are notlimited to the illustrated example. In another embodiment, the sensorarea 231 d may be formed at any other corner of the first housingstructure 210 or at any position between top and bottom corners. Instill another embodiment, the sensor area 231 d may be formed in aportion of the second housing structure 220. In yet another embodiment,the sensor area 231 d may be formed in a portion of both the first andsecond housing structures 210 and 220. In various embodiments,components for performing various functions may be embedded in theelectronic device 200 and exposed to the front surface of the electronicdevice 200 through the sensor area 231 d or through one or more openingsformed in the sensor area 231 d. In embodiments, such components mayinclude at least one of a front camera device, a receiver, a proximitysensor, an illuminance sensor, an iris recognition sensor, an ultrasonicsensor, or an indicator.

In an embodiment, the first rear cover 240 may be disposed on the secondsurface 212 of the first housing structure 210, and may have asubstantially rectangular periphery. The periphery may be surrounded, atleast in part, by the first housing structure 210. Similarly, the secondrear cover 250 may be disposed on the fourth surface 222 of the secondhousing structure 220, and a substantially rectangular periphery thereofmay be surrounded, at least in part, by the second housing structure220.

In the illustrated embodiment, the first rear cover 240 and the secondrear cover 250 may have substantially symmetrical shapes with respect tothe folding axis (A). In another embodiment, the first and second rearcovers 240 and 250 may have various different shapes. In yet anotherembodiment, the first rear cover 240 may be integrally formed with thefirst housing structure 210, and the second rear cover 250 may beintegrally formed with the second housing structure 220.

In an embodiment, the first rear cover 240, the second rear cover 250,the first housing structure 210, and the second housing structure 220may provide together a space in which various components of theelectronic device 200 (e.g., a PCB, an antenna module, a sensor module,or a battery) are disposed. In an embodiment, one or more components maybe disposed near and visually exposed to the rear surface of theelectronic device 200. For example, one or more components or sensorsmay be visually exposed through a first rear area 241 of the first rearcover 240. In various embodiments, such sensors may include a proximitysensor, a rear camera device, and/or a flash. In another embodiment, atleast a portion of a sub display 252 may be visually exposed through asecond rear area 251 of the second rear cover 250.

The display 230 may be disposed in a space formed by the pair of housingstructures 210 and 220. For example, the display 230 may be mounted inthe recess 201 formed by the pair of housing structures 210 and 220while occupying most of the front surface of the electronic device 200.Therefore, the front surface of the electronic device 200 may includethe display 230, a portion (e.g., a periphery) of the first housingstructure 210 adjacent to the display 230, and a portion (e.g., aperiphery) of the second housing structure 220. In addition, the rearsurface of the electronic device 200 may include the first rear cover240, a portion (e.g., a periphery) of the first housing structure 210adjacent to the first rear cover 240, the second rear cover 250, and aportion (e.g., a periphery) of the second housing structure 220 adjacentto the second rear cover 250.

In an embodiment, the display 230 may refer to a display that allows atleast a portion thereof to be deformed into a curved surface. In anembodiment, the display 230 may include a folding area 231 c, a firstarea 231 a disposed on one side (e.g., the right side) with respect tothe folding area 231 c, and a second area 231 b disposed on the otherside (e.g., the left side) with respect to the folding area 231 c. Forexample, the first area 231 a may be disposed on the first surface 211of the first housing structure 210, and the second area 231 b may bedisposed on the third surface 221 of the second housing structure 220.Such divided areas of the display 230 are exemplary only, and thedisplay 230 may be divided into a plurality of areas (e.g., two, four ormore) according to the structure or function thereof. Although, in anembodiment shown in FIG. 2A, the display 230 is divided into areas basedon the folding area 231 c running in parallel with the folding axis (A)corresponding to the y-axis, the display 230 in another embodiment maybe divided into areas based on another folding area running in parallelwith another folding axis (e.g., corresponding to the x-axis). The abovedivision of the display is merely a virtual division based on the pairof housing structures 210 and 220 and the hinge structure (e.g., thehinge structure 264 in FIG. 3). In practice, regardless of the pair ofhousing structures 210 and 220 and the hinge structure 264, the display230 is capable of displaying one full screen. In an embodiment, thefirst area 231 a and the second area 231 b may have symmetrical shapesas a whole with respect to the folding area 231 c. However, unlike thesecond area 231 b, the first area 231 a may have a cut portion (e.g., acut portion 233 in FIG. 3) for exposing the sensor area 231 d, resultingin an asymmetrical shape. Thus, strictly, the first and second areas 231a and 231 b may have a symmetrical portion and an asymmetrical portion.

FIG. 2B is a view showing a folded state of an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2B, the hinge cover 265 is disposed between the firsthousing structure 210 and the second housing structure 220 to cover anyunderlying component (e.g., the hinge structure 264 in FIG. 3). In anembodiment, depending whether the electronic device 200 is in theunfolded state or in the folded state, the hinge cover 265 may be hiddenby a part of the first and second housing structures 210 and 220 orexposed to the outside.

When the electronic device 200 is in the unfolded state as shown in FIG.2A, the hinge cover 265 may be hidden by the first and second housingstructures 210 and 220, thus being not exposed. When the electronicdevice 200 is in the folded state (e.g., a completely folded state) asshown in FIG. 2B, the hinge cover 265 may be exposed to the outsidebetween the first and second housing structures 210 and 220. When theelectronic device 200 is in the intermediate state where the first andsecond housing structures 210 and 220 are folded with a certain angle,the hinge cover 265 may be partially exposed to the outside between thefirst and second housing structures 210 and 220. The exposed area in theintermediate state may be smaller than that in the completely foldedstate. In an embodiment, the hinge cover 265 may have a curved surface.

Hereinafter, in each particular state of the electronic device 200, theoperations of the first and second housing structures 210 and 220 andthe respective areas of the display 230 will be described.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 200 is in the unfoldedstate (e.g., FIG. 2A), the first housing structure 210 and the secondhousing structure 220 are disposed to form an angle of 180 degrees witheach other, and thus the first and second areas 231 a and 231 b of thedisplay 230 face the same direction. In addition, the folding area 231 cmay form the same plane as the first and second areas 231 a and 231 b.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 200 is in the folded state(e.g., FIG. 2B), the first housing structure 210 and the second housingstructure 220 are disposed to face each other. Thus, the first andsecond areas 231 a and 231 b of the display 230 may form a very smallangle (e.g., between 0 and 10 degrees) and face each other. In addition,the folding area 231 c may form, at least in part, a curved surfacehaving certain curvature.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 200 is in the intermediatestate, the first housing structure 210 and the second housing structure220 are disposed to form a certain angle. Thus, the first and secondareas 231 a and 231 b of the display 230 may form a certain angle whichis greater than the angle in the folded state and smaller than the anglein the unfolded state. In addition, the folding area 231 c may form, atleast in part, a curved surface having certain curvature which issmaller than the curvature in the folded state. In an embodiment, theelectronic device 200 may determine that the electronic device 200 is inan at least partially folded state when the electronic device 200 is inthe intermediate state or the completely folded state.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, in an embodiment, the electronic device 200 mayinclude the first housing structure 210, the second housing structure220, the display 230, the first rear cover 240, and the second rearcover 250 all of which are described above. The electronic device 200may further include a bracket assembly 260 and at least one printedcircuit board (PCB) 270. The display 230 may be also referred to as adisplay module, a display assembly, or a display unit.

The display 230 (or the first display) may include a display panel 231(e.g., a flexible display panel) and at least one plate or layer 232 onwhich the display panel 231 is mounted. In an embodiment, the plate 232may be disposed between the display panel 231 and the bracket assembly260. The display panel 231 may be disposed on one surface (e.g., asurface in the z-axis direction in FIG. 3) of the plate 232. The plate232 may be formed in a shape corresponding to the display panel 231. Forexample, a portion of the plate 232 may be formed in a shapecorresponding to the cut portion 233 of the display panel 231.

The bracket assembly 260 may include a first bracket 261, a secondbracket 262, the hinge structure 264 disposed between the first andsecond brackets 261 and 262, the hinge cover 265 covering the hingestructure 264 (when viewing the hinge structure 264 from the outside),and at least one wiring member 263 (e.g., a flexible printed circuitboard (FPC)) intersecting with the first and second brackets 261 and262.

In an embodiment, the bracket assembly 260 may be disposed between theplate 232 and the at least one PCB 270. For example, the first bracket261 may be disposed between the first area 231 a of the display 230 anda first PCB 271, and the second bracket 262 may be disposed between thesecond area 231 b of the display 230 and a second PCB 272.

In an embodiment, the wiring member 263 and the hinge structure 264 maybe disposed, at least in part, inside the bracket assembly 260. Thewiring member 263 may be disposed in a direction (e.g., the x-axisdirection) that crosses the first and second brackets 261 and 262. Thatis, the wiring member 263 may be disposed in a direction perpendicularto the folding axis (e.g., the y-axis or the folding axis (A) in FIG.2A) of the folding area 231 c.

As mentioned above, the at least one PCB 270 may include the first PCB271 disposed to correspond to the first bracket 261, and the second PCB272 disposed to correspond to the second bracket 262. The first andsecond PCBs 271 and 272 may be disposed in a space formed by all of thebracket assembly 260, the first housing structure 210, the secondhousing structure 220, the first rear cover 240, and the second rearcover 250. On the first and second PCBs 271 and 272, electroniccomponents for implementing various functions of the electronic device200 may be mounted.

In an embodiment, while the display 230 is combined with the bracketassembly 260, the first housing structure 210 and the second housingstructure 220 may be assembled to each other to be combined with bothsides of the bracket assembly 260. As described below, the first housingstructure 210 and the second housing structure 220 may be combined withthe bracket assembly 260 by sliding on both sides of the bracketassembly 260.

In an embodiment, the first housing structure 210 may include a firstrotation supporting surface 214, and the second housing structure 520may have a second rotation supporting surface 224 corresponding to thefirst rotation supporting surface 214. The first rotation supportingsurface 214 and the second rotation supporting surface 224 may includecurved surfaces corresponding to curved surfaces included in the hingecover 265.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 200 is in the unfoldedstate (e.g., FIG. 2A), the first and second rotation supporting surfaces214 and 224 cover the hinge cover 265 so that the hinge cover 265 maynot be exposed or may be minimally exposed to the rear surface of theelectronic device 200. In addition, when the electronic device 200 is inthe folded state (e.g., FIG. 2B), the first and second rotationsupporting surfaces 214 and 224 rotate along the curved surfacesincluded in the hinge cover 265 so that the hinge cover 265 may bemaximally exposed to the rear surface of the electronic device 200.

In an embodiment, the sub display 252 (or a second display) may bemounted on the second rear cover 250 and exposed to the outside throughthe rear surface of the electronic device 200.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, and 4F are perspective views showing a usedstate of an electronic device in a folding or unfolding operationaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure.

The electronic device 200 (e.g., the electronic device 101 in FIG. 1A)according to various embodiments may include a foldable housing 410, afirst display 430 (e.g., the first display 230 in FIG. 2A), and a seconddisplay (e.g., the sub display 252 in FIG. 2A).

According to various embodiments, the electronic device 200 may includethe foldable housing 410 that includes a first housing structure 210 anda second housing structure 220 connected by a hinge structure (e.g., thehinge structure 264 in FIG. 3).

According to various embodiments, the first and second housingstructures 210 and 220 may be connected to be foldable to each other.The first and second housing structures 210 and 220 may be foldable toeach other about a folding axis 420 (e.g., the folding axis (A) in FIG.2A) extending in the first direction. The first and second housingstructures 210 and 220 may be disposed to face each other in a foldedstate.

Referring to FIG. 4A, an angle formed between the first housingstructure 210 and the second housing structure 220 may be about 180degrees. As such, when the angle between the first and second housingstructures 210 and 220 is greater than a predetermined angle (e.g.,about 170 degrees), it may be defined that the electronic device (or thefirst display 430) is in the unfolded state. When the electronic device200 is in the unfolded state, the first housing structure 210 and thesecond housing structure 220 may form a substantially planar structure.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the electronic device 200 according to variousembodiments may further include the second display 440 (e.g., the subdisplay 252 in FIG. 2A).

FIG. 4C illustrates that the electronic device 200 is partially foldedin a counterclockwise direction about the folding axis 420, and FIG. 4Dillustrates that the electronic device 200 is maximally folded about thefolding axis 420.

Referring to FIGS. 4C and 4D, the user of the electronic device 200 canfold the unfolded electronic device 200 or unfold the folded electronicdevice 200 about the folding axis 420 by applying a force to theelectronic device 200.

While the electronic device 200 is folded or unfolded, a user's fingermay touch the first display 430 and/or the second display 440. Thistouch may be detected by a touch sensor 421 of the first display 430and/or a touch sensor of the second display 440. This touch may be auser's unintended touch rather than an intended touch for an actualinput action on the screen.

Referring to FIG. 4E, while the electronic device 200 is folded orunfolded, the electronic device 200 may receive a user input on thefirst display 430. For example, the electronic device 200 may receive auser input on some portions 451 and 453 of the first display 430. Thisuser input may an unintended touch.

Referring to FIG. 4F, while the electronic device 200 is folded orunfolded, the electronic device 200 may receive a user input on thesecond display 440. For example, the electronic device 200 may receive auser input on a certain portion 461 of the second display 440. This userinput may be an unintended touch.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, an electronic device 500 may include a firstdisplay 510, a second display 520, a processor 530, and a memory 540.Some of such components of the electronic device 500 may be omitted orreplaced. The electronic device 500 may include at least some of theconfigurations and/or functions of the electronic device 101 in FIG. 1A.The electronic device 500 may include the structures shown in FIGS. 2A,2B, and 3, and may include the foldable structure as described withreference to FIGS. 4A to 4F.

According to various embodiments, the first display 510 may be disposedon a first surface (or front surface) of a housing of the electronicdevice 500 in a first direction. The first display 510 may include afirst touch sensor 515 that detects a touch input occurring on the firstdisplay 510. The first touch sensor 515 may be implemented in one ofvarious schemes such as an in-cell scheme or an on-cell scheme.

According to various embodiments, the first display 510 may be folded.Based on a folding area (e.g., the folding area 231 c in FIG. 2A), thefirst display 510 may be divided into a first area (e.g., the first area231 a in FIG. 2A) and a second area (e.g., the second area 231 b in FIG.2A), and may be folded in a direction where the first area and thesecond area face each other. Therefore, when the electronic device 500is folded, the first display 510 may not be visible to the user.

According to various embodiments, the second display 520 may be disposedon a second surface (or rear surface) of the housing of the electronicdevice 500 in a second direction. The second display 520 may be disposedon one of rear covers of the housing (e.g., the second rear cover 250 inFIG. 2A). Therefore, the area (or the widthwise length) of the seconddisplay 520 may be half or less than that of the first display 510.

The second display 520 may include a second touch sensor 525 thatdetects a touch input occurring on the second display 520. Theimplementation scheme of the second touch sensor 525 may be the same asthe first touch sensor 515.

The first touch sensor 515 and/or the second touch sensor 525 mayprovide the processor 530 with a touch event corresponding to the touchinput. The touch event may include a press event, a release event,and/or a cancel event. For example, when the user presses a certainregion of the first display 510, the first touch sensor 515 may providethe press event to the processor 530 together with the coordinates ofthe pressed region. When the user releases such a touch, the first touchsensor 515 may provide the release event to the processor 530. When thetouch is removed without being released, for example, when the user'sfinger moves without releasing the touch and thereby leaves the touchregion, the first touch sensor 515 may provide the cancel event to theprocessor 530.

The processor 530 may provide a received touch event to an applicationcorresponding to the touch event (or an application displayed in theforeground). When providing the press event or the release event to theapplication, the processor 530 may perform a corresponding operation.When providing the cancel event after the press event, the processor 530may cancel the operation performed according to the press event.

According to various embodiments, while the electronic device 500 isunfolded, the second display 520 and the second touch sensor 525 may bein an inactivated state. Therefore, even if a user's touch occurs on thesecond display 520, the second touch sensor 525 does not generate atouch event. According to another embodiment, even when the electronicdevice 500 is unfolded, the second display 520 and the second touchsensor 525 may be in an activated state, and therefore the second touchsensor 525 may generate a touch event in respond to a user's touchinput.

According to various embodiments, the memory 540 may include a volatilememory and a nonvolatile memory, which are known in the art and notlimited to specific implementation. The memory 540 may include at leastsome of configurations and/or functions of the memory 130 shown in FIG.1A. In addition, the memory 540 may store at least a part of the program140 shown in FIG. 1A.

The memory 540 may be functionally, operatively, and/or electricallyconnected to the processor 530, and may store various instructions beingexecutable by the processor 530. These instructions may include variouscontrol commands recognizable to the processor 120 in connection witharithmetic and logical operations, data transfer, input/output, and/orthe like.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 is configured toperform operations or data processing related to control and/orcommunication of components of the electronic device 501, and mayinclude at least some of configurations and/or functions of theprocessor 120 shown in FIG. 1A. The processor 530 may be functionally,operatively, and/or electrically connected to internal components of theelectronic device 500 including the first display 510, the seconddisplay 520, and the memory 540.

The operation and data processing functions that can be implemented bythe processor 530 in the electronic device 500 are not limited. However,in the disclosure, descriptions will be focused on operations ofprocessing a touch event and operations of displaying an applicationscreen seamlessly between the first display 510 and the second display520 when a folding or unfolding gesture occurs. The operations of theprocessor 530 to be described hereinafter may be performed by loadinginstructions stored in the memory 540.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may execute anapplication stored in the memory 540. In a state where the electronicdevice 500 (or the first display 510) is unfolded, the processor 530 maydisplay an execution screen of the application on the first display 510.Also, in the unfolded state of the electronic device 500, the seconddisplay 520 may be turned off by operating in a power saving mode or maydisplay only brief information such as time by operating in an always ondisplay (AOD) mode.

In addition, when the electronic device 500 is unfolded, the first touchsensor 515 of the first display 510 may provide the processor 530 with atouch event corresponding to a touch input on the first display 510. Atthis time, the second display 520 and the second touch sensor 525 may bein an inactivated state, and therefore the second touch sensor 525 maynot detect the touch input.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device 500 may includeno bezel area or only a very narrow bezel area so that the first display510 covers substantially the entire first surface of the housing.

According to various embodiments, in a state where the electronic device500 (or the first display 510) is folded, the processor 530 may displayan execution screen of the application on the second display 520. In thefolded state of the electronic device 500, the first and second areas ofthe first display 510 face each other and are not recognized by theuser. Therefore, the first display 510 may not display a screen byoperating in a power saving mode, and also the first touch sensor 515may not detect a touch input.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may detect a foldinggesture for the electronic device 500 (or the first display 510) in theunfolded state. As described above with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4F, theuser may apply a force to the housing of the electronic device 500 tofold the first and second areas of the first display 510 to face eachother. When the electronic device 500 is folded, the processor 530 maydetect the folding gesture through a variation in angle between a firsthousing structure (e.g., the first housing structure 210 in FIG. 2A)covering the first area of the first display 510 and a second housingstructure (e.g., the second housing structure 220 in FIG. 2B) coveringthe second area of the first display 510, based on the folding area(e.g., the folding area 231 c in FIG. 2A). For example, when the anglebetween the first and second housing structures is about 180 degrees,the processor 530 recognizes it as the unfolded state. When an anglechange occurs in the unfolded state, the processor 530 determines thatthe folding gesture is started. When the angle decreases below areference value (e.g., 10 degrees), the processor 530 determines thatthe folding gesture is completed.

In addition, the electronic device can determine that the device is inthe first folding state if the angle formed by a first housing structureand a second housing structure is close to 0° (e.g., 0° or 10°) or thatthe device is in the second folding state if the angle is close to 180°(e.g., 170° or 180°). Based on the angle, the electronic device performsan operation corresponding to the folding state if the device is in thefirst folding state and an operation corresponding to the unfoldingstate if the device is in the second folding state.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the processor 530 may request the first touch sensor 515 of the firstdisplay 510 to stop transmitting the touch event. This is because, asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4F, the touch on the firstdisplay 510 during folding is a user's unintended touch. According toanother embodiment, when the folding gesture is started, the processor530 may ignore the received touch event without requesting the firsttouch sensor 515 to stop transmitting the touch event. That is, even ifany touch event is received, it may not be provided to the application.In this case, because the second display 520 and the second touch sensor525 are still inactive, the second touch sensor 525 may not generate andtransmit a touch event.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may switch the firstdisplay 510 to an inactivated state in response to the folding gesture.A time point of turning off a screen of the first display 510 andstopping a touch detection of the first touch sensor 515 is not limited.For example, the processor 530 may perform a control operation ofturning off a screen of the first display 510 and stopping a touchdetection of the first touch sensor 515 when the folding gesture isdetermined to be completed as described above by a decrease of the angle(e.g., 10 degrees or less) of the first display 510 being folded, orwhen a touch lock screen to be described later is displayed on thesecond display 520.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may switch thesecond display 520 to an activated state in response to the foldinggesture. However, even in this case, the processor 530 may maintain thesecond touch sensor 525 in an inactivated state until the touch lockscreen is displayed, or may not process a touch event occurring at thesecond touch sensor 525 even if the second touch sensor 525 is activatedtogether with the second display 520. According to other embodiments,both the second display 520 and the second touch sensor 525 may beactivated in the folded state or the unfolded state of the electronicdevice 500.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may cancel a touchevent (e.g., a press event or a release event) having been provided tothe application before the folding gesture is started. For example, theprocessor 530 may cancel the execution of the application to be carriedin response to the touch event, or cancel the execution of theapplication having been already carried in response to the touch event.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the processor 530 may provide the application with a cancel eventcorresponding to a touch event previously provided. For example, even ifa press event actually occurs during the folding gesture, it is not auser's intention. Thus, the processor 530 may provide the cancel eventto the application even if the press event is received from the touchsensor. This prevents the application from being operated wrongly byrecognizing a touch for folding as a touch event. Therefore, theapplication may not perform an operation according to a touch eventgenerated by the first touch sensor 515 before the first display 510 isfolded.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may display a touchlock screen on the second display 520 in response to the foldinggesture. The processor 530 may display the touch lock screen when thestate of the electronic device 500 is changed to at least partiallyfolded state from the completely unfolded state. The touch lock screenmay be determined according to state information (e.g., security leveland/or whether being resizable) of the running application. Examples ofthe touch lock screen will be described below with reference to FIGS.10A and 10B.

According to various embodiments, the touch lock screen can be displayedas the upper layer of the application and can partially overlap theapplication screen. When the application screen and the touch lockscreen, which partially overlaps the application screen, are displayed,a touch input might not be processed as an input for the application.

According to various embodiments, the touch lock screen can be apartially changed application screen, where the application screen wasto be displayed in the second display. For example, the touch lockscreen can be a portion of the application screen, or the applicationscreen is a different resolution, transparency, and the like.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may display thetouch lock screen in the foreground to cover the screen of the top-levelapplication on the z-order, thereby preventing an unintended touch eventfrom being transmitted to the application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may process a touchevent received from the second touch sensor 525 of the second display520 after displaying the touch lock screen. In response to displayingthe touch lock screen, the processor 520 may activate the second touchsensor 525 or process a touch event received from the already activatedsecond touch sensor 525. In this situation, a touch event that isreceived while the touch lock screen is displayed is executed for thetouch lock screen and not for the application screen, which is displayedas a lower layer of the touch lock screen.

After displaying the touch lock screen, the processor 530 may releasethe touch lock screen in response to a touch event received from thesecond display 520 and provide the touch event to the runningapplication. In this case, the first display 510 and the first touchsensor 515 may have been already inactivated.

According to various embodiments, the processor can remove the touchlock screen if at least one characteristic of a touch event receivedfrom the second display satisfies a designated condition. In thissituation, the characteristics and conditions can refer to a distance,speed, location, and the like of the touch event.

According to another embodiment, the touch lock screen includes acertain indication and the processor can remove the touch lock screenwhen the indication is selected. In this situation, the indication canbe displayed as a portion of the touch lock screen or as an imageseparate from the touch lock screen. In addition, the indication candisplayed as partially overlapping with the touch lock screen.

A method of processing the touch event of the first touch sensor 515and/or the second touch sensor 525 after the folding gesture is detectedwill be described below with reference to FIG. 8.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may generate thetouch lock screen, based on state information of an application. Thestate information of the application may include information about asecurity level assigned to the application and/or information aboutwhether an execution screen of the application is resizable.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may operate in anon-secure mode, a weak secure mode, or a strong secure mode, dependingon a security level assigned to an application. For example, thenon-secure mode is a case where a voice call application is running. Inthis case, even when a folding gesture is detected during a voice call,the processor 530 may not display the touch lock screen and may insteaddisplay an execution screen of the voice call application on the seconddisplay 520. Also, the processor 530 may provide a touch event receivedfrom the second touch sensor 525 to the voice call application.

In case of the weak secure mode (or a first security level), theprocessor 530 may display a translucent touch lock screen on an upperlayer of an application execution screen. Thereafter, when a certaintouch input (e.g., swipe) for the touch lock screen displayed on thesecond display 520 is detected, the processor 530 may remove the touchlock screen and display a screen of the running application on thesecond display 520. In this case, the screen of the application may beresized corresponding to the resolution of the second display 520.

In case of the strong secure mode (or a second security level), theprocessor 530 may display an opaque touch lock screen on the seconddisplay 520. In this case, the processor 530 may display an applicationexecution screen on the second display 520 when a user authentication(e.g., a pattern input, a password input, an iris recognition, afingerprint recognition, and the like) is completed while the touch lockscreen is displayed. According to an embodiment, the processor 530 maydisplay another application (e.g., a home screen or a background runningapplication) on the second display 520 other than the runningapplication.

According to various embodiments, the processor can display in thesecond display an interface (e.g., pattern input, password input) forreceiving an input that releases the lock state of the application if asecurity level (e.g., strong secure mode, second security mode) isdesignated for the application. In this situation, the interface can bedisplayed as at least a portion of the touch lock screen or as an imageseparate from the touch lock screen.

According to various embodiments, the second display is smaller than thefirst display and therefore, the interface displayed in the firstdisplay during the unfolding state is minimized and then displayed inthe second display. In addition, the interface displayed in the firstdisplay is displayed in a lower resolution in the second display.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may determine thesecurity level or the execution mode, based on the attributes of anapplication running in an unfolded state.

For example, when the running application is an application (e.g., acall application) that requires a continuous use, the processor 530 mayoperate in the non-secure mode. Also, the processor 530 may operate inthe weak secure mode for a general application, and operate in thestrong secure mode for an application that requires security such asuser's privacy.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may determine thesecurity level or the execution mode, based on the attributes of thefolding gesture.

According to an embodiment, the processor 530 may identify a timedifference between a start time and a completion time of the foldinggesture. If the identified time difference is less than a giventhreshold, the processor 530 may operate in the strong secure mode. Thisis because, when the user quickly folds the electronic device 500, itmay be interpreted that the user does not want to expose informationdisplayed on the display for reasons such as privacy.

According to another embodiment, the processor 530 may determine throughthe direction of the folding gesture whether the second display 520 isin a user's visible direction after folding. For example, when thesecond display 520 is positioned upward (counter-gravity direction), itis determined that the second display 520 is in the visible direction.In contrast, when the second display 520 is positioned downward (gravitydirection), it may be determined that the second display 520 is in theinvisible direction. The processor 530 may display the touch lock screenof the weak secure mode when determining the second display 520 to be inthe visible direction. In contrast, when determining the second display520 to be in the invisible direction, the processor 530 may operate inthe strong secure mode or set the second display 520 to be in the powersaving mode.

According to still another embodiment, the processor 530 may determinethe execution mode, based on a pattern of the folding gesture. Forexample, the processor 530 may compare an acceleration of one housingstructure (e.g., the second housing structure 220 in FIG. 2A) having thesecond display 520 with an acceleration of the other housing structure(e.g., the first housing structure 210 in FIG. 2A) having no seconddisplay. If the acceleration of the second housing structure having thesecond display 520 is greater, the processor 530 may determine thesecond display 520 to be in the user's visible direction and display thetouch lock screen of the weak secure mode. If the acceleration of thefirst housing structure having no second display is greater, theprocessor 530 may determine the second display 520 to be in the user'sinvisible direction and operate in the strong secure mode or set thesecond display 520 to be in the power saving mode.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device 500 may includea sensor (e.g., an acceleration sensor or a gyro sensor) disposed on thefirst housing structure and/or the second housing structure, thusidentifying the pattern of the folding gesture from the sensor.

According to various embodiments, the processor 530 may identify whetheran application is resizable. For example, from attribute information ofthe application, the processor 530 may identify whether an executionscreen of the application is resizable.

When the application displayed on the first display 510 is a resizableapplication (e.g., an Internet browser), the processor 530 may generatea touch lock screen having at least a translucent portion in response todetection of the folding gesture and display the touch lock screen on anupper layer of the resized execution screen of the application displayedon the second display 520.

Thereafter, when a certain touch input (e.g., swipe) for the touch lockscreen displayed on the second display 520 is detected, the processor530 may remove the touch lock screen and display a screen of the runningapplication on the second display 520. According to other embodiments,after given authentication (e.g., pattern input, password input, irisrecognition, fingerprint recognition, and the like) is completed for thetouch lock screen, the processor 530 may remove the touch lock screenand display the application screen on the second display 520. In thiscase, an authentication type may be determined according to the securitylevel (e.g., the weak secure mode, the strong secure mode, and the like)and/or user's setting. Thereafter, when the electronic device 500 isunfolded again, the application may be displayed on the first display510 in its original size. This embodiment will be described below withreference to FIG. 14.

When an application displayed on the first display 510 is anon-resizable application (e.g., a game application), and when thefolding gesture is detected, the processor 530 may display on the seconddisplay 520 a touch lock screen containing a menu for selecting arestart (i.e., re-execution) or continuation (i.e., continued execution)of the application. Then, if the continuation is selected from the menuon the touch lock screen, the processor 530 may execute the applicationin the background and display another application (e.g., a home screenor a background execution application) on the second display 520.Thereafter, when the electronic device 500 is unfolded again, theapplication may be displayed on the first display 510 in the foreground.This embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. 15.

According to various embodiments, the touch lock screen may be displayedeven before folding is not completed after the folding gesture isstarted. For example, the processor 530 may display the touch lockscreen on the second display when the angle between the first and secondhousing structures reaches a predetermined value (e.g., 150 degrees, 120degrees, 90 degrees, 60 degrees, 30 degrees) while varying from 180degrees to 0 degree. Alternatively, the processor 530 may offer a visualeffect corresponding to the touch lock screen and, when folding iscompleted, display the touch lock screen.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a display-related configurationof an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, an electronic device 600 may include a firstdisplay 610, a second display 620, a first display driver IC 611, asecond display driver IC 621, and a processor 630.

According to an embodiment, the first display driver IC 611 may includean interface module (not shown), a memory (e.g., a buffer memory) (notshown), an image processing module (not shown), and/or a mapping module(not shown). The first display driver IC 611 may receive imageinformation containing image data and/or an image control signalcorresponding to a command for controlling the image data from othercomponents of the electronic device 600 through the interface module.For example, the first display driver IC 611 may receive the imageinformation from the processor 630 or from an auxiliary processor (e.g.,a graphics processing apparatus) that is operated independently of theprocessor 630. According to an embodiment, the first display driver IC611 may communicate with a touch circuit or a sensor module through theinterface module. According to an embodiment, the first display driverIC 611 may store at least part of the received image information in thememory, for example, in units of frames. According to an embodiment, theimage processing module may perform pre-processing or post-processing(e.g., adjusting resolution, brightness, or size) of at least part ofthe image data, based at least on the characteristics of the image dataor the characteristics of the first display 610. According to anembodiment, the mapping module may generate a voltage value or a currentvalue corresponding to the image data pre-processed or post-processedthrough the image processing module. According to an embodiment, thegeneration of the voltage value or the current value may be performed,based on at least in part the attributes of pixels of the first display610 (e.g., an array of pixels (RGB stripe or pentile structure), or thesize of each subpixel). At least some pixels of the first display 610may be driven based on at least in part the voltage value or the currentvalue, and thereby visual information (e.g., text, images, icons)corresponding to the image data may be displayed through the display610.

According to an embodiment, the second display driver IC 621 may drivethe second display 620 to display an image based on the imageinformation received from the processor 630. According to an embodiment,the second display driver IC 621 may include the same or similarcomponents as those of the first display driver IC 611, except fordriving the second display 620. For example, the second display driverIC 621 may include an interface module (not shown), a memory (e.g., abuffer memory) (not shown), an image processing module (not shown),and/or a mapping module (not shown) which perform operations similar tothose of the first display driver IC 611.

According to an embodiment, the processor 630 may include a firstdisplay port 612 operatively connected to the first display driver IC611, and a second display port 622 operatively connected to the seconddisplay driver IC 621. For example, the processor 630 may transmit firstimage information to the first display driver IC 611 through the firstdisplay port 612 and also transmit second image information to thesecond display driver IC through the second display port 622.

According to an embodiment, the first image information and the secondimage information may be identical to each other. For example, theprocessor 630 may transmit image information containing the same imagedata to both the first display driver IC 611 and the second displaydriver IC 621.

According to another embodiment, image data contained in the secondimage information may include at least part of image data contained inthe first image information. For example, the processor 630 may receivea user input for selecting part of first image data (e.g., the entireimage displayed on the first display 610) and, based on the receivedinput, transmit second image data (e.g., a part of the entire imagedisplayed on the first display 610), which is part of the first imagedata, to the second display driver IC 621.

According to still another embodiment, the processor 630 may transmitthe same image data to both the first display driver IC 611 and thesecond display driver IC 621, and further transmit coordinateinformation based the user input to the second display driver IC 621.For example, the coordinate information may define a specific part(i.e., the second image data), selected by the user, of the first imagedata, and the second display driver IC 621 may drive the second display620 to display the specific part of the first image data, based on thecoordinate information.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating software layers of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Shown is a software structure 700 according to some embodiments, whichmay be changed at least in part depending on the platform included inthe electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 500 in FIG. 5). FIG.7 illustrates some configurations related to processing a touch eventson the software structure 700.

Referring to FIG. 7, an application layer may include at least oneapplication 711 and a system UI 715 that are stored in a memory andexecutable by a processor. The application 711 may include, but is notbe limited to, an Internet browser, a video application, a gameapplication, and the like. The system UI 715 may refer to a particularapplication that configures various GUI screens such as a notificationbar and a quick view to be implemented on the system of the electronicdevice.

A framework may provide various functions to the application 711 suchthat functions or information provided from one or more resources of theelectronic device can be used by the application 711.

The framework may include an activity manager 721 for managing a lifecycle of the application 711, a window manager 722 for managing one ormore GUI resources being displayed, a view system 723 which is a set ofexpandable views used to create a user interface of the application 711,a power manager 724 for managing a battery (e.g., the battery 189 inFIG. 1A) of the electronic device, an input manager 725 for providinginformation of an input means provided by the electronic device, adisplay manager 726 for providing information related to a display(e.g., the first display 510 and the second display 520 in FIG. 5) ofthe electronic device, and a sensor manager 727 for controlling a sensor(e.g., the sensor module 176 in FIG. 1A).

A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) may refer to an abstracted layerbetween a plurality of hardware modules included in a hardware layer andsoftware of the electronic device. The hardware abstraction layer mayinclude an input dispatcher 731, an event hub 732, and a surface flinger733. The input dispatcher 731 may perform a function of determiningwhich application 711 to be provided with the generated event. The eventhub 732 may provide an interface for standardizing an event occurring inthe sensor. The surface flinger 733 may perform a function of providingan execution screen to be displayed on the display among executionscreens generated by the applications 711 and also request theapplications 711 to process changes in resolution and density inaccordance with a changed display configuration.

A kernel driver layer may include various drivers for controllingvarious hardware modules included in the electronic device. The kerneldriver layer may include a touch driver 741 including an interfacemodule for controlling a touch controller 751 and a sensor driver 742including an interface module for controlling a sensor controller 752connected to the sensor.

A hardware layer may include the touch controller 751 and the sensorcontroller 752. The touch controller 751 may receive a touch inputoccurring at a first touch sensor (e.g., the first touch sensor 515 inFIG. 5) of a first display and/or a second touch sensor (e.g., thesecond touch sensor 525 in FIG. 5) of a second display, and provide atouch event corresponding to the touch input. The electronic device mayhave a sensor for detecting folding in a portion of the housing (e.g.,the first housing structure 210 and the second housing structure 220),and the sensor controller 752 may provide information obtained from thesensor.

According to various embodiments, when a touch input is detected by thefirst touch sensor of the first display and/or the second touch sensorof the second display, the touch controller 751 may output the touchevent corresponding to the touch input. The touch event may be inputtedto the event hub 732 through an interface provided by the touch driver741. The touch event inputted to the event hub 732 may be provided tothe application 711 (e.g., a foreground application) determined by theinput dispatcher 731.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the electronic device may request the first touch sensor of the firstdisplay and/or the second touch sensor of the second display to stoptransmitting the touch event. In response to the transmission stoprequest, the touch event collected by the event hub 732 may not betransmitted to the application 711.

According to various embodiments, the electronic device may cancel atouch event (e.g., a press event or a release event) having beenprovided to the application 711 before folding is started. For example,when the folding is started, the electronic device may provide theapplication 711 with a cancel event corresponding to the touch eventpreviously provided. In this case, although press events arecontinuously delivered to the event hub, the electronic device mayforcibly provide the cancel event to the application 711 because suchpress events are not due to a user's intended touch.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a drawing engine of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, a drawing engine 800 includes the electronic device(e.g., the electronic device 500 in FIG. 5) may designate a portion of amemory (e.g., the memory 540 in FIG. 5) as surfaces 821, 822, and 823for recording execution states of applications 811 and 812.

A surface flinger 830 may determine whether to display an executionscreen of an application recorded on the surfaces 821, 822, and 823, andalso request the applications 811 and 812 to process changes inresolution and density in accordance with a changed displayconfiguration.

A first frame buffer 841 may store an execution screen corresponding tothe resolution and density of the first display (e.g., the first display510 in FIG. 5) and generated by each of the applications 811 and 812. Asecond frame buffer 842 may store an execution screen corresponding tothe resolution and density of the second display (e.g., the seconddisplay 520 in FIG. 5) and generated by each application.

In a state where the electronic device is unfolded, the surface flinger830 may store, in the first frame buffer 841, the execution screencorresponding to the resolution and density of the first display,generated by each of the applications 811 and 812, and recorded on thesurfaces 821, 822, and 823.

When the electronic device is folded, the surface flinger 830 mayrequest each of the applications 811 and 812 to process the executionscreen corresponding to the resolution and density of the seconddisplay, and store, in the second frame buffer 842, the execution screencorresponding to the resolution and density of the second display andrecorded on the surfaces 821, 822, and 823.

The electronic device may open or close a path transmitted from thesurface flinger 830 to the first frame buffer 841 or the second framebuffer 842 in response to a screen switching event.

Therefore, in case of folding or unfolding, the screen can be providedseamlessly though switch between the first display and the seconddisplay.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing a touch eventdetected in a folding operation at an electronic device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, the processor may display an execution screen of anapplication on the first display while the electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 500 in FIG. 5) or the first display (e.g., the firstdisplay 510 in FIG. 5) is unfolded. At this time, a press event (Apress) for one region of the first display may be detected. According tovarious embodiments, when the electronic device is in the unfoldedstate, the second display (e.g., the second display 520 in FIG. 5) andthe second touch sensor (e.g., the second touch sensor 525 in FIG. 5)may be in an activated state or in an inactivated state. Hereinafter, anembodiment in which the inactivated state is switched to the activatedstate in response to the folding gesture will be described.

The processor (e.g., the processor 530 in FIG. 5) may detect that thefolding gesture is started. For example, the processor may detect thefolding gesture through a variation in angle between the first housingstructure (e.g., the first housing structure 210 in FIG. 2A) coveringthe first area of the first display and the second housing structure(e.g., the second housing structure 220 in FIG. 2B) covering the secondarea of the first display.

When the folding gesture is detected, the processor may request thefirst touch sensor (e.g., the first touch sensor 515 in FIG. 5) to stoptransmitting the touch event. Therefore, the touch event of the firsttouch sensor and/or the second touch sensor may not be delivered to theprocessor until the processor requests again the first touch sensorand/or the second touch sensor to transmit the touch event. For example,the touch event delivered to the event hub (e.g., 732 in FIG. 7) fromthe touch controller (e.g., 751 in FIG. 7) in the hardware layer and thetouch driver (e.g., 741 in FIG. 7) in the kernel driver layer may not bedelivered to the application (e.g., 711 in FIG. 7).

This is to prevent a touch from being wrongly inputted during displayswitching.

Among touch events that have already occurred, the processor may discarda touch event that has not been delivered to the application. Theprocessor may provide the application with a cancel event (A cancel) fora touch event (A press) having been provided to the application beforethe folding is started. Therefore, the application may not perform anoperation corresponding to the previously received touch event (A press)or cancel an operation that has already been performed.

Touch events (B press, C press) occurring while the folding gesture iscarried may not be delivered to the processor.

When the folding gesture is completed, the processor may switch thefirst display to the inactivated state and switch the second display tothe activated state. The state switching timing between the first andsecond displays is not limited to the above. In a certain case, thefirst and second displays may be simultaneously turned on for a while.

The processor may generate and display a touch lock screen on the seconddisplay in response to the folding gesture. The processor may prevent anunintended touch input from being transmitted to the application bygenerating the touch lock screen as an upper layer of the applicationwindow on the z-order.

When displaying the touch lock screen, the processor may activate thesecond touch sensor and request the first touch sensor and/or the secondtouch sensor to resume delivery of the touch event. Regardless of theactivated touch sensors, the processor may request both the first touchsensor and the second touch sensor to stop or resume the delivery of thetouch event.

Therefore, a touch event (A release) occurring before the touch lockscreen is displayed may not be provided to the application. This is toprevent a touch input from being wrongly entered because the user maymaintain a grip state for folding even just after the second display isswitched to the activated state.

The second touch sensor of the second display may provide the processorwith a touch event occurring after the touch lock screen is generated.For example, from a point of view of the user or the touch sensor, touchevents of B release and C release are operations connected with touchevents of B press and C press. Because the touch events of B press and Cpress are made during folding, the touch events of B press and C pressmay not be delivered to the processor. Thus, even though the touchevents of B release and C release are delivered from the second touchsensor, the processor may ignore the touch events of B release and Crelease and may not perform operations corresponding to the touch eventsof B release and C release. Alternatively, the processor may not providethe touch events of B release and C release to the application.

According to another embodiment, the processor may deliver, to theapplication, all touch events received from the second touch sensorafter the touch lock screen is generated. Then, among such touch events,the application may regard some touch events, such as B release and Crelease, received without corresponding press events as errors andthereby may not reflect them in an application state.

Thereafter, when a new touch event of D press is provided from thesecond touch sensor, the processor may perform an operationcorresponding to the D press. For example, the processor may remove thetouch lock screen from the display in response to touch events (D pressand D release) occurring on the second display while the touch lockscreen is displayed, and may display an execution screen of theapplication on the second display. Thereafter, the processor may providethe application with a touch event occurring while the execution screenof the application is displayed.

Unlike FIG. 9, when a touch event of D press is not entered within agiven time (e.g., about 5 seconds), the processor may terminatedisplaying the touch lock screen and turn off the second display.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E and 10F are screenshots showing a touchlock screen displayed on an electronic device according to variousembodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, a processor (e.g., the processor 530in FIG. 5) of an electronic device 1000 may display a touch lock screen1070 on a second display 1020 in response to a folding gesture. In thiscase, the processor may generate the touch lock screen 1070, based on asecurity level assigned to an application, and operate in a non-securemode, a weak secure mode, or a strong secure mode, depending on thesecurity level. Although it will be described that the touch lock screendetermined according to the security mode is displayed, this is notconstrued as a limitation. For example, the touch lock screen 1070 shownin FIG. 10A is not necessarily limited to being displayed only in theweak secure mode.

Referring to FIG. 10A, an example of the touch lock screen 1070displayed in the weak secure mode is illustrated.

For example, when a first display (e.g., the first display 510 in FIG.5) is unfolded, the processor may execute an Internet application in theforeground and display an execution screen of the Internet applicationon the first display. At this time, the second display 1020 may beturned off in a power saving mode or may be in always on display (AOD)mode.

When a folding gesture is detected, the processor may identify thesecurity level assigned to the Internet application as a first levelcorresponding to the weak secure mode. The security level assigned to anapplication may be contained in attribute information of the applicationand may be changed according to user's setting.

According to various embodiments, when the security level is set to thefirst level, the processor may generate the touch lock screen 1070containing at least in part a translucent region. In this situation, thetouch lock screen is displayed as an upper layer compared to theexecution screen 1060 of the application and the touch lock screen isdisplayed as partially overlapping with the execution screen of theapplication.

The touch lock screen 1070 may contain an icon 1071 indicating anexecution screen 1060 of the Internet application being executed on alower layer of the touch lock screen 1070. The processor may resize theexecution screen 1060 of the Internet application, based on a resolutionof the second display 1020 in response to the folding gesture.

Because the first display covers most of a first surface of the housingand the second display 1020 covers a portion (e.g., half) of a secondsurface of the housing, the first display and the second display 1020may have different resolutions (or aspect ratios).

The processor may display the generated touch lock screen 1070 on theupper layer of the execution screen 1060 of the Internet application.

Referring to FIG. 10A, because the touch lock screen 1070 contains atranslucent area, the execution screen 1060 of the Internet applicationdisposed on the lower layer may also be recognized by the user.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example of a touch lock screen displayed in thestrong secure mode.

For example, when the first display is unfolded, the processor mayexecute a memo application having a security level set to a second levelin the foreground, and display an execution screen of the memoapplication on the first display.

When a folding gesture is detected, the processor may identify thesecond level assigned to the executed memo application and generate atouch lock screen 1080 containing guide information for releasing asecurity state. The guide information is information for guiding anunlocking method (e.g., a pattern input, a password input, an irisrecognition, a fingerprint recognition, and the like) in a lock mode.

Referring to FIG. 10B, the guide information may have an image 1081 forentering an unlock pattern. In this situation, the size and/or theresolution of the guide information during the unfolding state isreduced compared to the size and/or resolution of the guide informationdisplayed in the first display.

In the strong secure mode, the processor may display the touch lockscreen 1080 opaquely on the second display 1020 in order not to exposeinformation of the executed application.

In this case, when user authentication (e.g., a pattern input, apassword input, an iris recognition, a fingerprint recognition, and thelike) is completed while the touch lock screen 1080 is displayed, theprocessor may display an execution screen of an application on thesecond display 1020. According to an embodiment, the processor maydisplay another application (e.g., a home screen or a background runningapplication) instead of the executed application on the second display1020.

According to various embodiments, the processor may determine thesecurity level or execution mode, based on the attributes of the foldinggesture. For example, the attributes of the folding gesture may includea time difference between a start time point and a completion time pointof the folding gesture, a direction of the second display 1020 (i.e., auser's visible direction or not), after folding, determined through adirection of the folding gesture, or a comparison in accelerationbetween housing structures (e.g., the first housing structure 210 andthe second housing structure 220 in FIG. 2A) moved when folding.

The attributes of the application and the attributes of the foldinggesture for determining the security level or execution mode may bechanged by user's setting.

FIG. 10C illustrates another example of the touch lock screen. The touchlock screen of FIG. 10C may be displayed in the weak secure mode, but isnot limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 10C, when the electronic device 1000 is folded, theprocessor may display the touch lock screen composed of a transparentlayer on the second display 1020 to be overlapped with the applicationexecution screen 1060. In this case, the touch lock screen may containan object 1075 such as a specific phrase (e.g., touch lock) forindicating the touch lock state. Because the touch lock screen istransparent, the application execution screen 1060 may be visible to theuser as it is.

Thereafter, the touch lock screen may be removed when an input for theobject 1075 of the touch lock screen or a predetermined touch input suchas swipe is received. For example, the predetermined touch input mayinclude, besides the swipe, any touch input that satisfies predeterminedinput strength, input direction, input frequency, input duration, and/ordistance.

While the touch lock screen is displayed, a touch occurring on theapplication execution screen 1060 may be rejected, and a visual ortactile feedback corresponding thereto may be provided.

FIG. 10D illustrates still another example of the touch lock screen.

Referring to FIG. 10D, when the electronic device 1000 is folded, theprocessor may display the touch lock screen composed of a transparentlayer and display an object 1076 such as a specific phrase (e.g., touchlock) for indicating the touch lock state on an external area 1077 ofthe application execution screen 1060. Thereafter, the touch lock screenmay be removed when an input for the object 1076 of the touch lockscreen or a predetermined touch input such as swipe is received. Whilethe touch lock screen is displayed, a touch occurring on the applicationexecution screen 1060 may be rejected, and a visual or tactile feedbackcorresponding thereto may be provided.

FIG. 10E illustrates yet another example of the touch lock screen.

Referring to FIG. 10E, the processor may generate a touch lock screen1090 containing at least in part a translucent region and display thegenerated touch lock screen 1090 on the second display 1020. The touchlock screen 1090 may contain a certain object 1091 for removing thetouch lock screen 1090. When a touch input for the object 1091 of thetouch lock screen 1090 is received, the touch lock screen 1090 may beremoved, and the application execution screen 1060 may be displayed.

Referring to FIG. 10F, the processor may turn off the second displaywithout displaying the touch lock screen. For example, when theelectronic device 1000 is completely folded, the processor may turn offthe second display 1020 and display an object 1095 for turning on thesecond display 1020. When a touch input for the object 1095 is received,the processor may turn on the second display 1020 and display anapplication execution screen.

FIGS. 11A to 11E are screenshots showing a screen displayed on eachdisplay of an electronic device in a folding operation according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, a processor (e.g., the processor 530in FIG. 5) may determine a method of displaying an application on asecond display 1120, based on whether an execution screen of theapplication is resizable.

FIGS. 11A to 11C show examples of displaying an Internet applicationwhich is a resizable application.

Referring to FIG. 11A, in an electronic device 1100 when a first display1110 is unfolded, the processor may generate an execution screen 1150 ofthe Internet application corresponding to the resolution and density ofthe first display 1110 and display the generated screen 1150 on thefirst display 1110.

Referring to FIG. 11B, when a folding gesture is detected, the processormay generate a touch lock screen 1170. At the same time, the processormay transmit a screen switch event to the Internet application, so thatthe Internet application may redraw the application execution screen inaccordance with the resolution and density of the second display 1120.

The touch lock screen 1170 may contain an icon 1171 indicating anexecution screen 1160 of an application being executed on a lower layerof the touch lock screen 1170.

According to various embodiments, the processor may generate the touchlock screen 1170 to contain at least in part a translucent region, anddisplay the touch lock screen 1170 on an upper layer of the resizedexecution screen 1160 of the Internet application.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B, the processormay generate the touch lock screen 1170, based on a security level of anapplication and/or attributes of a folding gesture. After the touch lockscreen 1170 is displayed, the processor may perform an operationaccording to a touch event of a second touch sensor of the seconddisplay 1120.

According to various embodiments, when a specific input (e.g., a longpress) is received while the touch lock screen 1170 is displayed, theprocessor may process the received input as an input for the applicationexecution screen 1160 displayed on a lower layer of the touch lockscreen 1170 and thereby perform a corresponding operation. In contrast,when a touch input that is not of a determined type is input, the touchinput might not be processed as an input for the application executionscreen.

According to various embodiments, the touch lock screen 1170 may have apartially removed portion. For example, when the touch lock screen 1170is formed of a translucent screen, at least a portion thereof may becompletely transparent. Even when the touch lock screen 1170 is beingdisplayed, the processor may provide a touch event to an application inresponse to a touch input for the portion of being completelytransparent and update an application execution screen. For example,when the Internet application is being executed, portions of the touchlock screen corresponding to a web page refresh button, a favoritebutton, and a URL input window may be removed to receive a user inputeven when the touch lock screen is displayed. When the user touches theweb page refresh button, the application execution screen may be updatedby refreshing the web page while displaying the touch lock screen 1170is maintained.

Referring to FIG. 11C, when a predetermined touch input (e.g., swipe)occurs on the touch lock screen 1170, the processor may remove the touchlock screen 1170 displayed on the upper layer and thereby display theapplication execution screen 1160. The application execution screen 1160may be different from the application execution screen 1150 displayed onthe first display 1110. For example, because time elapses, an executionstate of the application before folding may be changed after folding,and therefore the application execution screen may be updated.

Referring to FIG. 11D, when the electronic device 1100 is folded, theprocessor may display one or more application icons 1180 on the seconddisplay 1120. These icons 1180 may be related to an application set bythe user, an application frequently used, and/or an application recentlyused. When an input for one of the application icons 1180 is received,the processor may immediately execute the corresponding application anddisplay it on the second display 1120.

Referring to FIG. 11E, when the electronic device 1100 is folded, theprocessor may display icons 1190 corresponding to a plurality ofapplications 1150 displayed on a multi-screen in an unfolded state. FIG.11E illustrates an Internet application 1151, a calendar application1152, and a gallery application 1153 displayed on the multi-screen inthe unfolded state. After the electronic device is folded, the processormay display the icons 1190 corresponding to the above applications onthe second display 1120. Then, when an input for one of the icons 1190is received, the processor may immediately execute the correspondingapplication and display it on the second display 1120. In addition, whena predetermined input (e.g., a swipe, a password input, and the like)for the touch lock screen is received, the processor may display, on thesecond display 1120, the applications previously displayed on themulti-screen.

According to another embodiment, when folding, the processor maydisplay, on the second display, icons corresponding to at least oneapplication displayed on the first display in the unfolded state and anapplication running in the background.

FIGS. 12A to 12D are screenshots showing a screen displayed on eachdisplay of an electronic device in a folding operation according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure.

FIGS. 12A to 12D show examples of displaying a video application whichdoes not support a change in resolution (or aspect ratio) but isresizable by a processor.

Referring to FIG. 12A, in an electronic device 1200 when a first display1210 is unfolded, the processor (e.g., the processor 530 in FIG. 5) maygenerate an execution screen 1250 of a video application to correspondto the resolution and density of the first display 1210 and display thegenerated screen 1250 on the first display 1210.

Referring to FIG. 12B, the processor may generate and display a touchlock screen 1270 on a second display 1220 in response to a foldinggesture. In this case, the touch lock screen 1270 may contain at leastin part a translucent region and may be displayed on an upper layer of aresized execution screen 1260 of the video application.

Because the video application does not support changing the resolution,the processor may forcibly change the resolution of the execution screenof the video application in accordance with the resolution (or aspectratio) of the second display 1220. Therefore, contrary to the executionscreen 1250 of the video application displayed on the first display1210, the execution screen 1260 of the video application displayed onthe second display 1220 may have, for example, an aspect ratio of beingextended widthwise.

Referring to FIG. 12C, when a predetermined touch input (e.g., swipe)occurs on the touch lock screen 1270, the processor may remove the touchlock screen 1270 displayed on the upper layer and thereby display anapplication execution screen 1261. At this time, the execution screen1261 of the video application may have an aspect ratio of being furtherextended widthwise in accordance with the resolution of the seconddisplay 1220.

In addition, the processor may output, on the second display 1220, acertain button 1265 for converting the resolution of the executionscreen 1261 of the video application to the original resolution.

Referring to FIG. 12D, when the above button 1265 is selected, theprocessor may resize the execution screen 1261 of the video applicationto correspond to a predetermined resolution, that is, the resolution(aspect ratio) of the video application displayed on the first display1210. Then, the processor may display a resized screen 1262 on thesecond display 1220.

FIGS. 13A, 13B, 13C and 13D are screenshots showing a screen displayedon each display of an electronic device in a folding operation accordingto various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIGS. 13A to 13D show examples of displaying a game application thatdisallows resizing of an execution screen. For example, the gameapplication to be described hereinafter may be an application that doesnot support changing resolution and/or density during runtime and isconfigured to be forcibly terminated when changing the resolution isattempted.

Referring to FIG. 13A, in an electronic device 1300 when a first display1310 is unfolded, the processor (e.g., the processor 530 in FIG. 5) maygenerate an execution screen 1350 of the game application to correspondto the resolution and density of the first display 1310 and display thegenerated screen 1350 on the first display 1310 including a specificregion 1351.

Referring to FIG. 13B, the processor may generate and display a touchlock screen 1380 on a second display 1320 in response to a foldinggesture. According to various embodiments, the touch lock screen 1380may contain a certain button 1381 for selecting an application restartor a compatibility mode. As described above, the game application maynot support changing the resolution during runtime. Therefore, in orderto execute the game application on the second display 1320 having aresolution different from that of the first display 1310 while executingthe game application on the first display 1310, the game application mayneed to be re-executed after termination.

The processor may generate a thumbnail image 1360 having a region (e.g.,a specific region 1351 in FIG. 13A) corresponding to the size of thesecond display 1320 in the execution screen 1350 of the game applicationdisplayed on the first display 1310. Then, the processor may display thethumbnail image 1360 on the second display 1320 and also display thetouch lock screen 1380 on an upper layer of the thumbnail image 1360.

Referring to FIG. 13C, when the user selects the button of theapplication restart, the game application being executed may beterminated and re-executed. In this case, the processor may generate anexecution screen 1385 of the re-executed game application in accordancewith the resolution and density of the second display 1320.

Referring to FIG. 13D, when the user selects the button of thecompatibility mode, the processor may not send a screen switch event tothe game application and may maintain the state of executing the gameapplication in the background. In this case, the processor may pause thegame application.

The processor may display a home screen 1380 on the second display 1320at least in part simultaneously with the background execution of thegame application. According to another embodiment, the processor maydisplay, on the second display 1320, a screen of an application havingthe highest order on the z-order other than the game application.

Thereafter, when the first display 1310 is unfolded, the processor mayautomatically set the game application, being executed in thebackground, back to the top of the z-order and change the pause state toa resume state, thus allowing the game application to be continuouslyused on the first display 1310.

FIG. 14 is a screenshot showing a screen displayed on each display of anelectronic device in an unfolding operation according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, an electronic device 1400 is shown in a case wherean Internet application that is resizable and operates in a weak securemode is being executed.

When a folding gesture is detected, the processor (e.g., the processor530 in FIG. 5) may generate a touch lock screen 1470 and display thetouch lock screen 1470 on a second display 1420. The touch lock screen1470 may contain at least in part a translucent region and may bedisplayed on an upper layer of an execution screen 1460 of the Internetapplication.

Thereafter, in response to a predetermined touch input on the touch lockscreen, the processor may remove the touch lock screen 1470 and displaythe execution screen 1460 of the Internet application.

The processor may detect an unfolding gesture for the first display 1410while the touch lock screen 1470 is displayed or the execution screen1460 of the Internet application is displayed with the touch lock screen1470 removed. The processor may send a screen switch event to theInternet application in response to the unfolding gesture, and theInternet application may output an execution screen 1450 resized tocorrespond to the resolution of a first display 1410.

When the unfolding gesture is completed, the processor may remove theInternet application from the second display 1420 and enter in a powersaving mode or output an AOD screen.

FIG. 15 is a screenshot showing a screen displayed on each display of anelectronic device in an unfolding operation according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15, an electronic device 1500 shown in a case where agame application that disallows resizing of an execution screen is beingexecuted.

When the electronic device 1500 is folded, the processor (e.g., theprocessor 530 in FIG. 5) may display an execution screen 1561 of thegame application on a second display 1520.

Thereafter, when an unfolding gesture is detected, the processor mayidentify, based on attribute information of the game application, thatthe game application does not support changing resolution and/or densityduring runtime and is configured to be forcibly terminated when changingthe resolution is attempted.

In response to the unfolding gesture, the processor may display on afirst display 1510 an execution screen 1562 of the game applicationcorresponding to the resolution and density of the second display 1520.For example, the processor may display, on the first display 1510 in anunfolded state, the execution screen 1562 having the same resolution anddensity as the execution screen 1561 displayed on the second display1520 in a folded state. At this time, an area 1564 of the first display1510 other than the execution screen may be processed as black.Therefore, although the game application does not support resizing, thescreen may be seamlessly switched from the second display 1520 to thefirst display 1510.

Thereafter, when the user selects a restart, the processor may terminatethe execution of the application, re-execute the application, anddisplay an execution screen 1551 of the re-executed application on thefirst display 1510. In this case, the game application may generate theexecution screen 1551 based on the resolution and density of the firstdisplay 1510.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 16, an illustrated method 1600 may be performed by theelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 500 in FIG. 5) describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1A to 15, and descriptions of theabove-described technical features will be omitted hereinafter.

At operation 1610, the electronic device may display an execution screenof an application on a first display (e.g., the first display 510 inFIG. 5). At this time, a second display (e.g., the second display 520 inFIG. 5) and a second touch sensor (e.g., the second touch sensor 525 inFIG. 5) may be in an inactivated state.

At operation 1620, the electronic device may detect a start of a foldinggesture. For example, the electronic device may detect the start of thefolding gesture through a change in an angle between first and secondhousing structures of the electronic device.

When the folding gesture is started, the electronic device may request,at operation 1630, the first touch sensor of the first display and/orthe second touch sensor of the second display to stop delivering a touchevent. In response to this delivery stop request, the touch eventcollected by an event hub (e.g., the event hub 732 in FIG. 7) may not betransmitted to the application (e.g., the application 711 in FIG. 7).The second touch sensor does not generate a touch event because thesecond touch sensor is still in the inactivated state even when thefolding gesture is detected. However, regardless of touch sensor types,the electronic device may send the delivery stop request for the touchevent.

At operation 1640, the electronic device may identify state informationof the application being executed. According to various embodiments, theapplication state information may include information related to asecurity level and/or whether the application is resizable.

At operation 1650, the electronic device may display a touch lock screen(e.g., the touch lock screen 1070 in FIG. 10A or the touch lock screen1080 in FIG. 10B) on the second display. The electronic device maygenerate the touch lock screen, based on the application stateinformation. For example, the electronic device may display atranslucent touch lock screen on an upper layer of the applicationexecution screen. The electronic device may activate the second touchsensor of the second display in response to displaying the touch lockscreen.

At operation 1660, the electronic device may process a touch eventreceived from the second touch sensor of the second display afterdisplaying the touch lock screen. When a predetermined touch input(e.g., swipe) occurs on the touch lock screen, the electronic device mayremove the touch lock screen and display the application executionscreen on the second display.

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 17 a control method 1700 performed by the electronicdevice is illustrated. After detecting a folding gesture, the electronicdevice determines an operation mode depending on a security level of anapplication and performs the control method in accordance with thedetermined operation mode.

At operation 1710, the electronic device may detect the folding gesture.

At operation 1720, the electronic device may identify state informationof an application. The application state information may include asecurity level assigned to the application, and the security level maybe determined according to attribute information of the application oruser's setting. According to another embodiment, the electronic devicemay determine an execution mode, based on attributes of the foldinggesture. For example, the processor may determine the security level ofthe execution mode, based on a time difference between a start time anda completion time of the folding gesture, whether the second displayafter folding is in a user's visible direction, or an acceleration of ahousing structure (e.g., the first and second housing structures 210 and220 in FIG. 2A) moved by folding.

At operation 1731, the electronic device may determine to operate in anon-secure mode. The non-secure mode may be used for an application,such as a call application, which runs in an unfolded state, does notrequire security, and requires continuity of operation.

At operation 1732, the electronic device may resize an execution screenof the running application (e.g., the call application) and display theresized screen on a second display.

At operation 1741, the electronic device may determine to operate in aweak secure mode.

At operation 1742, the electronic device may generate and display atouch lock screen on the second display. The electronic device maydisplay the translucent touch lock screen on an upper layer of theapplication execution screen. In this case, the application executionscreen may be resized according to the resolution and density of thesecond display. The electronic device may process a touch event receivedfrom a second touch sensor of the second display in response todisplaying the touch lock screen. The touch lock screen displayed in theweak secure mode has been described above with reference to FIG. 10A.

At operation 1743, the electronic device may detect a predeterminedtouch input (e.g., swipe) on the touch lock screen.

At operation 1744, the electronic device may remove displaying the touchlock screen and display the application execution screen on the seconddisplay.

At operation 1751, the electronic device may determine to operate in astrong secure mode.

At operation 1752, the electronic device may generate and display atouch lock screen for the strong secure mode on the second display. Inthis case, the touch lock screen may be opaque, and thus the applicationexecution screen may be covered by the opaque touch lock screen. Thetouch lock screen may contain information for guiding userauthentication (e.g., a pattern input, a password input, an irisrecognition, a fingerprint recognition, and the like).

At operation 1753, the electronic device may receive a user input for asecurity pattern on the touch lock screen and determine whether thepattern is correct. When the pattern is correct, the electronic devicemay execute the application in the background at operation 1754 anddisplay another application (e.g., a home screen) on the second displayat least in part simultaneously.

The touch lock screen displayed in the strong secure mode has beendescribed above with reference to FIG. 10B.

At operation 1743 or 1753, if a touch input is not received afterdisplaying the touch lock screen, the electronic device may check atoperation 1761 whether a predetermined time (e.g., 5 seconds) elapses.If the time elapses, the electronic device may switch the second displayin a power saving mode at operation 1762.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 18, illustrates a control method 1800 of theelectronic device after detecting a folding gesture, depending onwhether an application is resizable.

At operation 1810, the electronic device may detect the folding gesture.

At operation 1820, the electronic device may identify state informationof the application. At operation 1830, based on the state information,the electronic device may determine whether an execution screen of theapplication is resizable.

At operation 1841, when the application is resizable (e.g., an Internetapplication), the electronic device may generate a touch lock screen anddisplay the touch lock screen on an upper layer of the resizedapplication on the second display.

At operation 1842, the electronic device may remove the touch lockscreen in response to a predetermined touch input for the touch lockscreen and display the resized application on the second display.

When it is determined at operation 1830 that the execution screen of theapplication is not resizable, the electronic device may determine atoperation 1850 whether the application is continuously operable whenresizing. For example, a video application may be resizable by aprocessor even though supporting no change of resolution (or aspectratio). In another example, a game application may support no change ofresolution and/or density during runtime and may be forcibly terminatedwhen attempting to change the resolution.

At operation 1861, the electronic device may display the touch lockscreen on an upper layer of the resized application (e.g., the videoapplication). In this case, because the application does not supportchanging the resolution, the electronic device may forcibly change theresolution of the execution screen of the application in accordance withthe resolution (or aspect ratio) of the second display.

At operation 1862, the electronic device may remove the touch lockscreen in response to a predetermined touch input for the touch lockscreen and display the resized application on the second display. Inthis case, contrary to the execution screen of the video applicationdisplayed on the first display, the execution screen of the videoapplication displayed on the second display may have, for example, anaspect ratio of being extended widthwise. A button for converting theresolution of the execution screen of the application to the originalresolution may be outputted on the second display.

When an input for selecting a restart button is received at operation1863, the electronic device may restart (re-execute) the application atoperation 1864 and display on the second display an execution screen ofthe application resized to correspond to a given resolution, that is,the resolution (aspect ratio) of the video application displayed on thefirst display.

When it is determined at operation 1850 that the application (e.g., thegame application that does not support a change in resolution and/ordensity during runtime) is not operable when resizing, the electronicdevice may generate at operation 1870 a touch lock screen correspondingto the application and display it on the second display. At this time,the touch lock screen may contain a certain button for selecting anapplication restart or a compatibility mode.

When the button of the application restart is selected at operation1881, the electronic device may terminate and restart (re-execute) therunning application at operation 1882. In this case, the electronicdevice may generate an execution screen of the re-executed applicationin accordance with the resolution and density of the second display.

At operation 1883, the electronic device may display the executionscreen of the application on the second display.

When the button of the compatibility mode (or continuation) is selectedat operation 1891, the electronic device execute the application in thebackground at operation 1892. In this case, the electronic device maypause the application.

At operation 1893, the electronic device may display another application(e.g., a home screen) on the second display while the game applicationis displayed in the background.

Thereafter, when the electronic device is unfolded, the electronicdevice may automatically set the game application, being executed in thebackground, back to the top of the z-order and change the pause state toa resume state, thus allowing the game application to be continuouslyused on the first display.

Hereinafter, an electronic device having a form factor of a lengthwise(i.e., vertical) folding structure will be described with reference toFIGS. 19A to 20C. The features described above with reference to FIGS. 3to 18 may also be applied to the electronic device to be describedbelow. Although an in-folding foldable display structure will bedescribed hereinafter, other various form factors such as an out-foldingfoldable display structure, a dual display structure, a G-type foldingstructure, an S-type folding structure, or a rollable display structuremay be implemented in the lengthwise (vertical) folding structure.

FIGS. 19A, 19B, and 19C are perspective views showing a used state of anelectronic device of a vertical folding type in a folding or unfoldingoperation according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 19A, illustrates a first surface of the electronicdevice 1900 in an unfolded state, and FIG. 19B illustrates a secondsurface of the electronic device 1900 in the unfolded state.

Referring to FIGS. 19A and 19B, the electronic device 1900 may include afoldable housing, a first display 1930, and a second display 1940.

The foldable housing includes a first housing structure 1910 and asecond housing structure 1920 which are connected by a hinge structure.The first housing structure 1910 and the second housing structure 1920may be foldable with each other about a folding axis. In a folded state,the first housing structure 1910 and the second housing structure 1920may be disposed to face each other.

The first display 1930 may be folded and disposed on a first surface (orfront surface) of the first and second housing structures 1910 and 1920.In this embodiment, the first housing structure 1910 and the secondhousing structure 1920 may be disposed up and down with each other, andthe folding axis may be extended widthwise (in a horizontal direction).When the electronic device 1900 is in the unfolded state, an applicationmay be displayed lengthwise (in a vertical direction).

One or more sensors 1990 such as a camera and an illumination sensor maybe disposed at a lower portion of the second housing structure 1920 ofthe electronic device 1900. The sensors 1990 may be seen from theoutside even in the folded state. The length in the vertical directionof the first housing structure 1910 may be smaller than the length inthe vertical direction of the second housing structure 1920. Therefore,when the electronic device 1900 is folded, the sensors 1990 disposed atthe lower portion of the second housing structure 1920 may be seen fromthe outside. Alternatively, when the electronic device 1900 may notinclude the sensors 1990, the first housing structure 1910 and thesecond housing structure 1920 may have the substantially same length.

The second display 1940 may be disposed on a second surface (or rearsurface) of the first housing structure 1910.

The user may fold the electronic device 1900 about the folding axisextended widthwise by applying a force to the electronic device 1900 inthe unfolded state.

Referring to FIG. 19C, when the electronic device 1900 is fully folded,the first display 1930 may not be seen from the outside. An applicationscreen may be displayed through the second display 1940.

FIGS. 20A, 20B, and 20C are screenshots showing a screen displayed oneach display of an electronic device in a folding operation according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 20A, in an electronic device 2000 when a first display2010 is unfolded, a processor (e.g., the processor 120 in FIG. 1B) maygenerate an execution screen 2050 of an application to correspond toattributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, and the like) of thefirst display 2010 and display the generated execution screen 2050 onthe first display 2010. In the electronic device 2000 of the verticalfolding type, the first display 2010 is long in the vertical directionin the unfolded state, so that the application screen 2050 may have alengthwise form.

According to various embodiments, when detecting a folding gesture, theprocessor may generate a touch lock screen 2070. The processor maygenerate the touch lock screen 2070 according to a security level of anapplication. Referring to FIG. 20B, because an Internet applicationhaving a weak secure level is being executed, the processor may generatethe translucent touch lock screen 2070. At least in part simultaneously,the processor may transmit a screen switch event to the Internetapplication, and the Internet application may redraw the applicationexecution screen according to the attributes of the second display 2020.Because the length is reduced in the vertical direction during verticalfolding, the application execution screen may be redrawn accordingly.

Referring to FIG. 20B, the processor may generate the touch lock screen2070 containing at least in part a translucent region and display thetouch lock screen 2070 on an upper layer of a resized execution screen2060 of the Internet application.

Referring to FIG. 20C, when a predetermined touch input (e.g., swipe)occurs on the touch lock screen 2070, the processor removes the touchlock screen 2070 displayed on the upper layer and displays theapplication execution screen 2060.

FIGS. 20A to 20C relate to an embodiment in which the Internetapplication is executed, but other embodiments of FIGS. 12A to 15 mayalso be applied to the vertical folding structure of FIGS. 19A to 19C.

Now, various embodiments in which the electronic device is implementedas an out-folding foldable display structure will be described withreference to FIGS. 21A to 27.

FIGS. 21A, 21B, and 21C are perspective views showing a used state of anelectronic device of an out-folding type in a folding or unfoldingoperation according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 21A, the electronic device 2100 may include a firsthousing structure 2110 and a second housing structure 2120 that arerotatably combined to be folded with respect to each other through ahinge structure. According to an embodiment, the first housing structure2110 and the second housing structure 2120 may have the same size, sothat rear covers of the first and second housing structures 2110 and2120 may not be visible from the outside when folding. According toanother embodiment, the first housing structure 2110 may be larger inthe horizontal direction than the second housing structure 2120. In thiscase, a portion of the first housing structure 2110 may be visible fromthe outside when folding, and the electronic device 2100 may includevarious sensors such as a camera disposed in the visible portion.

According to various embodiments, a display 2130 may be disposed onfront surfaces of the first and second housing structures 2110 and 2120.The display 2130 may be divided into a first area 2131 and a second area2132 (see FIG. 21C), based on the folding axis. The first area 2131 mayhave the same size as or a larger size than the second area 2132. Thedisplay 2130 may include a touch sensor that detects a touch input onthe display 2130.

Sensors such as a camera and an illumination sensor may be disposed onthe rear surface of the first housing structure 2110 and/or the secondhousing structure 2120. In addition, an additional display (not shown)may be disposed on the rear surface of the first housing structure 2110and/or the second housing structure 2120. Contrary to the display 2130disposed on the front surface, the additional display may not be folded.

Referring to FIG. 21B, the first housing structure 2110 and the secondhousing structure 2120 may be folded about the folding axis. At thistime, the first and second housing structures 2110 and 2120 may befolded counterclockwise, that is, in a direction where the rear surfacesof the first and second housing structures 2110 and 2120 face each otherin the folded state and the first and second areas 2131 and 2132 of thedisplay 2130 are viewed from the outside. The electronic device 2100 maydetermine that the unfolded state is switched to the folded state whenan angle between the first and second housing structures 2110 and 2120reaches a certain value (e.g., about 10 degrees) by a force applied tothe first and/or second housing structure(s) by the user.

Referring to FIG. 21C, in the folded state, the first area 2131 of thedisplay 2130 may be disposed on the front surface of the electronicdevice 2100, and the second area 2132 of the display 2130 may bedisposed on the rear surface of the electronic device 2100. According toan embodiment, because the first housing structure 2110 and the firstarea 2131 of the display 2130 are larger than the second housingstructure 2120 and the second area 2132 of the display 2130,respectively, the second area 2132 of the display 2130 may partiallycover the rear surface of the electronic device 2100 with the rear coverof the first housing structure 2110 being exposed partially. In theexposed portion, various sensors such as a camera and an illuminancesensor may be disposed to be seen from the outside.

Although FIG. 21C illustrates that the first housing structure 2110 andthe first area 2131 of the display 2130 are larger than the secondhousing structure 2120 and the second area 2132 of the display 2130,respectively, the first housing structure 2110 and the first area 2131of the display 2130 may have the same sizes than the second housingstructure 2120 and the second area 2132 of the display 2130,respectively. In the latter case, no sensor is disposed on the rearcover of the second housing structure 2120, and the rear cover of thesecond housing structure 2120 may not be viewed to the outside whenfolded.

Referring to FIGS. 21A, 21B, and 21C, the electronic device 2100 isout-folded about the folding axis extended vertically. Alternatively, asshown in FIGS. 19A to 19C, the electronic device 1900 may be out-foldedabout the folding axis extended horizontally.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 22, an electronic device 2200 may include a display2210, a processor 2230, and a memory 2240. Some of such components ofthe electronic device 2200 may be omitted or replaced. The electronicdevice 2200 may include at least some of the configurations and/orfunctions of the electronic device 101 in FIG. 1A and/or FIG. 1B. Theelectronic device 2200 may include the out-folding structure shown inFIGS. 21A to 21C.

According to various embodiments, the display 2210 may be disposed on afront surface of a housing (e.g., the first housing structure 2110 andthe second housing structure 2120 in FIG. 21A). When the electronicdevice 2200 is folded, a first area (e.g., the first area 2131 in FIG.21C) and a second area (e.g., the second area 2132 in FIG. 21C), whichare divided based on the folding axis, may be disposed on the front andrear surfaces of the electronic device 2200, respectively. According toan embodiment, the electronic device 2200 may include an additionaldisplay (not shown) on a rear surface of the housing, and the additionaldisplay may not be folded.

According to various embodiments, the display 2220 may include a touchsensor (not shown) that detects a touch input occurring on the display2220. The touch sensor may provide the processor 2230 with a touch eventcorresponding to the touch input. The touch event may include a pressevent, a release event, and/or a cancel event.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 is configured toperform operations or data processing related to control and/orcommunication of components of the electronic device 2200, and mayinclude at least some of configurations and/or functions of theprocessor 120 shown in FIG. 1A and/or FIG. 1B. The processor 2230 may befunctionally, operatively, and/or electrically connected to internalcomponents of the electronic device 2200 including the display 2210 andthe memory 2240.

According to various embodiments, when the electronic device 2200 isunfolded, the processor 2230 may display an execution screen of anapplication on the entire area of the display 2210. In the unfoldedstate of the electronic device 2200, the touch sensor may provide theprocessor 2230 with a touch event corresponding to a touch inputoccurring on the entire area of the display 2210.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may detect afolding gesture for the electronic device 2200. As described above withreference to FIGS. 21A to 21C, the user may apply a force to theelectronic device 2200 such that the rear surfaces of the first andsecond housing structures face each other and also the first and secondareas of the display 2210 are viewed from the outside. The form of theelectronic device 2200 when folding is described above with reference toFIG. 21C.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the processor 2230 may request the touch sensor to stop transmitting thetouch event. This is because the touch on the display 2210 duringfolding is a user's unintended touch. According to another embodiment,when the folding gesture is started, the processor 2230 may ignore thereceived touch event without requesting the touch sensor to stoptransmitting the touch event. That is, even if any touch event isreceived, it may not be provided to the application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may cancel a touchevent (e.g., a press event or a release event) having been provided tothe application before the folding gesture is started. For example, theprocessor 2230 may cancel the execution of the application to be carriedin response to the touch event, or cancel the execution of theapplication having been already carried in response to the touch event.

According to various embodiments, when the folding gesture is started,the processor 2230 may provide the application with a cancel eventcorresponding to a touch event previously provided. For example, even ifa press event actually occurs during the folding gesture, it is not auser's intention. Thus, the processor 2230 may provide the cancel eventto the application even if the press event is received from the touchsensor. This prevents the application from being operated wrongly byrecognizing a touch for folding as a touch event. Therefore, theapplication may not perform an operation according to a touch eventgenerated by the touch sensor before the electronic device 2200 isfolded.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may change an areaof the display 2210 to display an application in response to the foldingof the electronic device 2200. The processor 2230 may determine one ofthe first and second areas of the display 2210 to display theapplication in the folded state. For example, in order to identify anarea the user gazes at after folding, the processor 2230 may identify auser's touch input pattern (e.g., a touch with a thumb), identify anarea seen upward by using a sensor (e.g., a gravity sensor), identify afolding direction (e.g., identify a housing structure having a highermoving speed at an edge), check a predetermined setting, or receive aselection of a specific icon after folding. The processor 2230 maydisplay an application screen on any one of the first and second areasby using at least one of the above-described manners.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may generate theapplication screen, based on attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution,density, and the like) of one of the first and second areas on which thescreen is to be displayed.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may identifywhether an execution screen of the application is resizable.

When the application displayed on the display 2210 in the unfolded stateis a resizable application (e.g., an Internet browser), and when thefolding gesture is detected, the processor 2230 may display theapplication screen resized based on the attributes of the first orsecond area.

When the application displayed on the display 2210 in the unfolded stateis a non-resizable application (e.g., a game application), and when thefolding gesture is detected, the processor 2230 may display a menu forselecting a restart (i.e., re-execution) or continuation (i.e.,continued execution) of the application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may generate atouch lock screen in response to the folding gesture and display thetouch lock screen on an area to be determined to display the applicationscreen after folding. The touch lock screen may be determined accordingto state information (e.g., security level and/or whether beingresizable) of the running application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may display thetouch lock screen on an upper layer of the first or second area. Theprocessor 2230 may display the touch lock screen in the foreground tocover the screen of the top-level application on the z-order, therebypreventing an unintended touch event from being transmitted to theapplication.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may process a touchevent received from the touch sensor of the display 2210 afterdisplaying the touch lock screen. After displaying the touch lockscreen, the processor 2230 may release the touch lock screen in responseto a touch event received from the display 2210 and provide the touchevent to the running application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 2230 may operate in anon-secure mode, a weak secure mode, or a strong secure mode, dependingon the security level assigned to the application. When folding, theprocessor 2230 may generate and display the touch lock screencorresponding to the security level of the application being executed.Alternatively, the processor 2230 may determine the security level or anexecution mode, based on the attributes of the folding gesture.

The touch lock screen of this embodiment may include the touch lockscreen described above with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10F.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a drawing engine of anelectronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 23, the electronic device 2300 may designate a portionof a memory (e.g., the memory 2240 in FIG. 22) as surfaces 2321, 2322,and 2323 for recording execution states of applications 2311 and 2312.

A surface flinger 2330 may determine whether to display an executionscreen of an application recorded on the surfaces 2321, 2322, and 2323,and also request the applications 2311 and 2312 to process changes inresolution and density in accordance with a changed displayconfiguration.

A frame buffer 2340 may store an execution screen corresponding to theattributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, and the like) of thedisplay and generated by each of the applications 2311 and 2312.

In a state where the electronic device 2300 is unfolded, the surfaceflinger 2330 may store, in the frame buffer 2340, the execution screencorresponding to the attributes of the display, generated by each of theapplications 2311 and 2312, and recorded on the surfaces 2321, 2322, and2323.

When the electronic device 2300 is folded, a logical displayconfiguration 2350 may update the display configuration, based on theattributes (size, ratio, resolution, density, and the like) of the firstor second area to display the screen after folding.

A display manager 2360 may transmit the attributes of the first orsecond area to the application when the display configuration ischanged, and request the application to generate an execution screenaccording to the changed attributes.

The surface flinger 2330 may calculate and output an area of the framebuffer 2340 on which the surface is to be drawn, with reference toinformation of the first or second area on which the screen is to bedisplayed.

Each of the applications 2311 and 2312 may generate the execution screenof the application, based on the attributes of the first or second areareceived from the display manager 2360, and record the execution screenon the surfaces 2321, 2322, and 2323.

Therefore, in case of folding or unfolding, the screen can be providedseamlessly when the screen displayed on the entire display is switch tothe first or second area.

FIGS. 24A and 24B are block diagrams illustrating a drawing engine of anelectronic device according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, a processor (e.g., the processor 2230in FIG. 22) may allocate a certain region of a memory (e.g., the memory2240 in FIG. 22) to a frame buffer 2400 to display an execution screenof an application. The processor may determine the size of the region tobe allocated, based on attributes of a display and region information ofthe running application.

For example, when the electronic device is in an unfolded state, theexecution screen of the application may be displayed on the entiredisplay.

Referring to FIG. 24A, a logical display configuration 2450 maydesignate a surface for recording an execution state of an applicationby using the entire area 2440 of the frame buffer 2400. When theelectronic device is in a folded state, the execution screen may bedisplayed in one of first and second areas of the display while noscreen may be displayed in the other area.

Referring to FIG. 24B, the logical display configuration 2450 maydesignate a surface for recording an execution state of an applicationby using a partial area 2445 corresponding to the size of the first orsecond area (or ratio thereof to the display) in the entire area of theframe buffer 2400.

The processor may record display information in a memory regionassociated with the display, based on application drawing informationand an application disposition position (e.g., the entire display, thefirst area, or the second area).

FIGS. 25A, 25B, 25C, and 25D are screenshots showing a screen displayedon a display of an electronic device in an out-folding operationaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIGS. 25A to 25D illustrate examples of displaying a resizable Internetapplication on the display.

Referring to FIG. 25A, in an electronic device 2500 when the display2510 is unfolded, a processor (e.g., the processor 2230 in FIG. 22) maygenerate an execution screen 2550 of the Internet applicationcorresponding to attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, andthe like) of the display 2510 and display the execution screen 2550 onthe entire area of the display 2510.

The processor may detect folding of the display 2510 in an unfoldedstate. In response to the detection of the folding, the processor maydetermine an area in which the execution screen of the application is tobe displayed, from among a first area 2511 and a second area 2512 of thedisplay 2510 divided based on the folding axis. For example, in order toidentify an area the user gazes at after the folding, the processor mayidentify a user's touch input pattern (e.g., a touch with a thumb),identify an area seen upward by using a sensor (e.g., a gravity sensor),identify a folding direction (e.g., identify a housing structure havinga higher moving speed at an edge), check a predetermined setting, orreceive a selection of a specific icon after folding. The processor maydisplay an application screen on any one of the first and second areas2511 and 2512 by using at least one of the above-described manners. Inthe folded state, the area where the application screen is displayed maybe changed again according to a user's manipulation (e.g., a rotation ofthe electronic device 2500 or a touch on an icon for changing thedisplay area).

When detecting a folding gesture, the processor may transmit a screenswitch event to the Internet application, and the Internet applicationmay redraw the application execution screen according to the attributesof the first area 2511 determined to display the application screen.

At least in part simultaneously, the processor may generate a touch lockscreen 2570.

According to various embodiments, when the folding is started, theprocessor may provide a visual effect 2555 to indicating a progress offolding until the folding is completed. The visual effect 2555 may beidentical to the touch lock screen 2570. Alternatively, any other visualeffect 2555 such as a certain graphic object or a shadow effect that isdistinguished from the screen provided in the unfolded state may beused.

Referring to FIG. 25B, the processor may provide the visual effect 2555throughout the display when the folding is started.

Referring to FIG. 25C, the processor may provide the visual effect 2555only to the first area 2511 determined to display the application screenwhen the folding is completed.

According to various embodiments, the processor may not process a touchevent by a user's touch input in a situation where the folding is inprogress as shown in FIG. 25B or 25C.

According to another embodiment, when the folding is started, theprocessor may dynamically change a display range of the visual effect,depending on a folding angle. When the electronic device 2500 starts thefolding in the unfolded state, the processor may provide the visualeffect to all of the first and second areas 2511 and 2512 (e.g., FIG.25B). Then, as the folding proceeds, that is, as an angle between afirst housing structure covering the first area 2511 and a secondhousing structure covering the second area 2512 is reduced about thefolding axis, the processor may reduce the display range of the visualeffect in the second area 2512. For example, the visual effect that isprovided throughout the first and second areas 2511 and 2512 when thefolding is started may be displayed only in the entire first area 2511and the half (e.g., half close to the first area 2511) of the secondarea 2512 when the angle between the first and second housing structuresis reduced to 90 degrees.

Thereafter, when the folding is completed, all displayed images may beremoved from the second area 2512, and the touch lock screen 2570 may bedisplayed on the first area 2511.

Referring to FIG. 25D, when the folding is completed, the processor maydisplay the touch lock screen 2570 containing at least in part atranslucent portion on the first area 2511 of the display. The processormay display the touch lock screen 2570 on an upper layer of the resizedexecution screen 2560 of the Internet application. The processor maydisplay an icon 2551 indicating the running application on the touchlock screen 2570. When the folding is completed, the processor may turnoff the second area or display no information even in a turned-on state.

After the touch lock screen 2570 is displayed, the processor may performan operation according to a touch event for the first area 2511. At thistime, the processor may not process the touch event by a touch inputoccurring in the second area.

When a predetermined touch input occurs on the touch lock screen 2570displayed in the first area 2511, the processor may remove the touchlock screen displayed on the upper layer and instead display theapplication execution screen 2560.

Described with reference to FIGS. 25A to 25D is merely a case ofdisplaying the Internet application having the weak secure level.However, like the electronic device having the in-folding foldabledisplay structure previously described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 18,the electronic device of the out-folding foldable display structuredescribed with reference to FIGS. 21A to 27 may provide different touchlock screens in the non-secure mode, the weak secure mode, and thestrong secure mode.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing a touch eventdetected in a folding operation at an electronic device according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 26, a processor (e.g., the processor 2230 in FIG. 22)may display an execution screen of an application on the entire displaywhile the electronic device is unfolded. At this time, a press event (Apress) for one region of the display may be detected.

The processor may detect that a folding gesture is started. For example,the processor may detect the folding gesture through a variation inangle between a first housing structure covering a first area of thedisplay and a second housing structure covering a second area of thedisplay.

When the folding gesture is detected, the processor may request a touchsensor of the display to stop transmitting a touch event. Therefore, thetouch event of the touch sensor may not be delivered to the processoruntil the processor requests again the touch sensor to transmit thetouch event. For example, the touch event delivered to an event hub froma touch controller in the hardware layer and a touch driver in thekernel driver layer may not be delivered to the application.

Among touch events that have already occurred, the processor may discarda touch event that has not been delivered to the application. Forexample, the processor may provide the application with a cancel event(A cancel) for the touch event (A press) having been provided to theapplication before the folding is started. Therefore, the applicationmay not perform an operation corresponding to the previously receivedtouch event (A press) or cancel an operation that has already beenperformed.

Touch events (B press, C press) occurring while the folding gesture iscarried may not be delivered to the processor.

During the folding in which the touch event is not processed, theprocessor may provide a visual effect (e.g., the visual effect 2555 inFIGS. 25B and 25C) for indicating a progress of the folding on theentire area of the display or on the first or second area of the displaywhere the screen will be displayed after the folding.

When the folding gesture is completed, the processor may terminatedisplaying the screen in the second area determined to display no screenwhen the folding, and may not process the touch event occurring in thesecond area.

In response to folding completion, the processor may display a touchlock screen in the first area of the display determined to display thescreen when the folding. In response to displaying the touch lockscreen, the processor may activate the touch sensor and request thetouch sensor to resume delivery of the touch event.

Therefore, a touch event (A release) occurring before the touch lockscreen is displayed may not be provided to the application.

The touch sensor of the display may provide the processor with a touchevent occurring after the touch lock screen is generated. For example,from a point of view of the user or the touch sensor, touch events of Brelease and C release are operations connected with touch events of Bpress and C press. Because the touch events of B press and C press aremade during folding, the touch events of B press and C press may not bedelivered to the processor. Thus, even though the touch events of Brelease and C release are delivered from the touch sensor, the processormay ignore the touch events of B release and C release and may notperform operations corresponding to the touch events of B release and Crelease. Alternatively, the processor may not provide the touch eventsof B release and C release to the application.

According to another embodiment, the processor may deliver, to theapplication, all touch events received from the touch sensor after thetouch lock screen is generated. Then, among such touch events, theapplication may regard some touch events, such as B release and Crelease, received without corresponding press events as errors andthereby may not reflect them in an application state.

Thereafter, when new touch events of D press and D release are providedfrom the touch sensor, the processor may perform operationscorresponding to the D press and the D release. For example, theprocessor may remove the touch lock screen from the display in responseto touch events (D press and D release) occurring in the first area ofthe display while the touch lock screen is displayed, and may display anexecution screen of the application in the first area of the display.Thereafter, the processor may provide the application with a touch eventoccurring while the execution screen of the application is displayed.

Unlike FIG. 26, when a touch event of D press is not entered within agiven time (e.g., about 5 seconds), the processor may terminatedisplaying the touch lock screen and turn off the second display.

FIG. 27 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

An illustrated method 2700 may be performed by the electronic devicedescribed above with reference to FIGS. 21A to 26, and descriptions ofthe above-described technical features will be omitted hereinafter.

Referring to FIG. 27, at operation 2710, the electronic device maydisplay an execution screen of an application on the entire area of adisplay in an unfolded state.

At operation 2720, the electronic device may detect a start of a foldinggesture. For example, the electronic device may detect the start of thefolding gesture through a change in an angle between first and secondhousing structures of the electronic device.

When the folding gesture is started, the electronic device may request,at operation 2730, a touch sensor of the display to stop delivering atouch event. In response to this delivery stop request, the touch eventcollected by an event hub may not be transmitted to the application.

At operation 2740, the electronic device may identify state informationof the application being executed. According to various embodiments, theapplication state information may include information related to asecurity level and/or whether the application is resizable.

At operation 2750, the electronic device may display an applicationexecution screen in a first area of the display. The electronic devicemay determine, as the first area, an area to display the applicationexecution screen in a folded state, and redraw the application executionscreen, based on attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, and thelike) of the first area.

The electronic device may generate a touch lock screen, based on thestate information of the application. For example, the electronic devicemay display a translucent touch lock screen on an upper layer of theapplication execution screen. In addition, the electronic device mayterminate displaying the screen in a second area of the display and maynot process a touch event occurring in the second area.

At operation 2760, after the touch lock screen is displayed, theelectronic device may process a touch event for the first area receivedfrom the touch sensor of the display. When a predetermined touch input(e.g., swipe) occurs on the touch lock screen, the electronic device mayremove the touch lock screen and instead display the applicationexecution screen in the first area of the display.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing an electronic device in which apart of housing structures is rotatable 360 degrees according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 28, an electronic device 2800 may include a firsthousing structure 2810, a second housing structure 2820, and a display2830. The display 2830 may be disposed on front surfaces of the firstand second housing structures 2810 and 2820.

Each of the first and second housing structures 2810 and 2820 may berotatable 360 degrees. For example, when the second housing structure2820 rotates clockwise, folding is made in a direction where first andsecond areas of the display 2830 face each other as similar to theabove-described in-folding foldable display structure. In addition, whenthe second housing structure 2820 rotates counterclockwise, folding ismade in a direction where the first and second areas of the display 2830are seen from the outside as similar to the above-described out-foldingfoldable display structure.

When the second housing structure 2820 rotates clockwise as in thein-folding foldable display structure, the electronic device 2800 mayoperate like having the in-folding foldable display structure asdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 2A to 18. For example, aprocessor of the electronic device 2800 may display an execution screenof an application on a second display disposed on a rear surface of thefirst housing structure 2810 when the electronic device 2800 is folded.

In addition, when the second housing structure 2820 rotatescounterclockwise as in the out-folding foldable display structure, theelectronic device 2800 may operate like having the out-folding foldabledisplay structure as described above with reference to FIGS. 21A to 27.For example, the processor of the electronic device 2800 may display theapplication execution screen on a first or second area of the display2830 when the electronic device 2800 is folded.

Hereinafter, an electronic device having a dual display structure inwhich two displays, which are physically separated from each other, aredisposed on the front surface of the housing will be described withreference to FIGS. 29A to 30. Although the following description willfocus on the electronic device having the dual display structure andbeing folded in the in-folding structure, the same description may alsobe applied to the electronic device being folded in the out-foldingstructure.

FIGS. 29A and 29B are perspective views showing an electronic devicehaving a plurality of displays on one surface of a housing according tovarious embodiments of the disclosure.

An electronic device 2900 may include a first housing structure 2910 anda second housing structure 2920 that are rotatably combined through ahinge structure to be foldable with each other.

Referring to FIG. 29A, a first display 2930 may be disposed on a frontsurface of the first housing structure 2910, and a second display 2940may be disposed on a front surface of the second housing structure 2920.The first and second displays 2930 and 2940 are physically separated andmay be connected to a processor of the electronic device 2900 throughindependent ports and interfaces. The first display 2930 may include afirst touch sensor (not shown) for detecting a touch input on the firstdisplay 2930, and the second display 2940 may include a second touchsensor (not shown) for detecting a touch input on the second display2940.

Referring to FIG. 29B, a third display 2950 may be disposed on a rearsurface of the first housing structure 2910. The third display 2950 mayinclude a third touch sensor (not shown) for detecting a touch input onthe third display 2950.

The electronic device 2900 may be folded based on the folding axis. Forexample, the second housing structure 2920 may rotate clockwise to foldin a direction where the first display 2930 and the second display 2940face each other.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 30, an electronic device 3000 may include a firstdisplay 3010, a second display 3020, a third display 3030, a processor3040, and a memory 3050. Some of such components of the electronicdevice 3000 may be omitted or replaced. The electronic device 3000 mayinclude at least some of the configurations and/or functions of theelectronic device 101 in FIG. 1A and/or FIG. 1B. The electronic device3000 may include the dual display structure shown in FIGS. 29A and 29B.

According to various embodiments, the first display 3010 may be disposedon a front surface of a first housing structure (e.g., the first housingstructure 2910 in FIGS. 29A and 29B), and the second display 3020 may bedisposed on a front surface of a second housing structure (e.g., thesecond housing structure 2920 in FIGS. 29A and 29B). Therefore, when theelectronic device 3000 is in an unfolded state, the first display 3010and the second display 3020 may face the same direction. The thirddisplay 3030 may be disposed on a rear surface of the first housingstructure. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 3000 maynot include the third display 3030. According to an embodiment, thesecond display 3020 may be separated from the second housing structure.To this end, the second housing structure may include a structureallowing the second display 3020 to be detachable and also include oneor more pins for electrical connection when attached.

According to various embodiments, the processor 3040 may display anexecution screen of an application on the first display 3010 and/or thesecond display 3020 when the electronic device 3000 is unfolded. At thistime, when a plurality of applications are running, the processor 3040may display a screen of a first application on the first display 3010and also display a screen of a second application on the second display3020. When only one application is running, the processor 3040 maydivide an execution screen of the application and display the dividedscreens on the first display 3010 and the second display 3020,respectively, or may display the execution screen of the application onone of the first and second displays 3010 and 3020.

When the electronic device 3000 is in an unfolded state, the thirddisplay 3030 may be turned off.

According to various embodiments, when a folding gesture is started, theprocessor 3040 may request a touch sensor to stop transmitting a touchevent. According to various embodiments, the processor 3040 may cancel atouch event (e.g., a press event or a release event) having beenprovided to the application before the folding gesture is started.According to various embodiments, when folding is started, the processor3040 may provide the application with a cancel event corresponding tothe touch event previously provided.

According to various embodiments, when the electronic device 3000 isfolded, the processor 3040 may turn off the first display 3010 and thesecond display 3020 and display an application execution screen on thethird display 3030. The processor 3040 may redraw an application, basedon attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, and the like) ofthe third display 3030.

According to various embodiments, the processor 3040 may display a touchlock screen on the third display 3030 in response to the foldinggesture. After displaying the touch lock screen, the processor 3040 mayprocess a touch event received from a third touch sensor of the thirddisplay 3030. The processor 3040 may release the touch lock screen inresponse to a touch event received from the third display 3030 afterdisplaying the touch lock screen and provide the touch event to arunning application.

According to various embodiments, the processor 3040 may generate thetouch lock screen, based on state information of the application. Theapplication state information may include information about a securitylevel assigned to the application and/or information about whether theapplication execution screen is resizable.

In addition, the electronic device 3000 may further include the featuresof the electronic device having the in-folding foldable displaystructure described above with reference to FIGS. 2A through 18. In thiscase, the first area (e.g., the first area 451 in FIG. 4E) and thesecond area (e.g., the second area 452 in FIG. 4E) of the first displayin the in-folding foldable display structure may correspond to the firstdisplay 3010 and the second display 3020 in the dual display structure,respectively.

FIGS. 31A and 31B are views showing a G-shape foldable electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device 3100 may includea first housing structure 3111, a second housing structure 3112, and athird housing structure 3113 that are divided based on two folding axesA and B.

Referring to FIG. 31A, a display 3110 may be disposed on front surfacesof the first, second, and third housing structures 3111, 3112, and 3113.The display 3110 has a foldable display structure being foldable abouttwo folding axes. That is, the display 3110 may be divided into a firstarea disposed on the first housing structure 3111, and a second areadisposed on the second housing structure 3112, and a third area disposedon the third housing structure 3113.

Referring to FIG. 31B, the first housing structure 3111 may be foldedinwardly toward the second housing structure 3112, and then the thirdhousing structure 3113 may be folded inwardly. Therefore, in a foldedstate, the first area of the display 3110 may face the second area, andthe third area may face a rear surface of the first housing structure3111.

According to various embodiments, when folding is started, theelectronic device 3100 may not process a touch event occurring on thedisplay 3110. When the folding is completed, the electronic device 3100may turn off the display 3110.

FIGS. 32A, 32B, and 32C are views showing an S-shape foldable electronicdevice according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments, an electronic device 3200 may includea first housing structure, a second housing structure, and a thirdhousing structure that are divided based on two folding axes.

Referring to FIG. 32A, a first display 3210 may be disposed on frontsurfaces of the first and second housing structures.

Referring to FIG. 32B, a second display 3220 may be disposed on a rearsurface of the third housing structure. The first display 3210 may be afoldable display, and the second display 3220 may not be foldable.

Because the first display 3210 covers two housing structures, the firstdisplay 3210 may have a greater size than that of the second display3220.

Referring to FIG. 32C, when the electronic device 3200 is folded, firstand second areas of the first display 3210 distinguished by one foldingaxis may face each other, and the second display 3220 may be exposed tothe outside.

According to various embodiments, in an unfolded state, the electronicdevice 3200 may display an application screen on the first display 3210.At this time, the second display 3220 may be turned off. In a foldedstate, the electronic device 3200 may display the application screen onthe second display 3220 and turn off the first display 3210.

When folding is started, the processor may not process a touch eventoccurring on the first display 3210. In response to the folding of theelectronic device 3200, the processor may resize the application screen,based on attributes (e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, etc.) ofthe second display 3220 and display the resized application screen onthe second display 3220. Also, in response to a folding gesture, theprocessor may generate a touch lock screen and display the touch lockscreen in an area to display the application screen after the folding.The touch lock screen may be determined according to state information(e.g., security level and/or whether the application is resizable) ofthe running application.

FIGS. 33A and 33B are views showing an electronic device having arollable display according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 33A, an electronic device 3300 may have a whollywoundable form without any folding axis. A display 3310 may be disposedon a front surface of the electronic device 3300. The display 3310 maybe a rollable display. When the electronic device 3300 is fullyunfolded, an execution screen of an application may be displayed on theentire display 3310.

Referring to FIG. 33B, the electronic device 3300 may be rolled. Whenthe electronic device 3300 is rolled at a predetermined angle or more,the electronic device 3300 may determine an area to display anapplication in response to rolling. For example, the electronic device3300 may display an execution screen 3350 of the application in acentral area of the display 3310. In a rolled state, the electronicdevice 3300 may resize the application screen, based on attributes(e.g., size, ratio, resolution, density, etc.) of the determined area todisplay the application.

According to various embodiments, when the rolling is started, theelectronic device 3300 may not process a touch event. When the rollingis completed, the electronic device 300 may display a touch lock screenand process a touch event occurring in the corresponding area afterdisplaying the touch lock screen. In this case, no screen may bedisplayed on an area other than the display area, and a touch eventoccurring in the corresponding area may not be processed.

FIG. 34 is a flow diagram illustrating a control method of an electronicdevice according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

An illustrated method 3400 may be performed by the electronic device(e.g., the electronic device 101 in FIG. 1B) described above withreference to FIGS. 1A to 33B, and descriptions of the above-describedtechnical features will be omitted hereinafter.

Referring to FIG. 34, at operation 3410, the electronic device maydisplay an application execution screen on at least one display in anunfolded state. According to various embodiments, the electronic devicemay be configured with various form factors (e.g., an in-foldingfoldable display structure, an out-folding foldable display structure, adual display structure, a G-type folding structure, an S-type foldingstructure, or a rollable display structure). A display area fordisplaying the application execution screen in the unfolded state as toeach form factor structure has been previously described.

At operation 3420, the electronic device may detect a folding gesture.The folding gesture may refer to a user's action of folding a part ofthe electronic device based on the folding axis by applying force to theelectronic device being in the unfolded state. When the folding gestureis started, the electronic device may request each display to stoptransmission of a touch event, or ignore a received touch event. Theelectronic device may cancel a touch event having been provided to anapplication before the folding gesture is started.

At operation 3430, in response to the folding gesture, the electronicdevice may determine an area (or a portion) of at least one display todisplay an application execution screen. For example, when theelectronic device has the in-folding foldable display structure, theapplication screen may be displayed using both a foldable first displaydisposed on one housing surface and a non-foldable second displaydisposed on the other housing surface. When the electronic device hasthe out-folding foldable display structure, the application screen maybe displayed on any one of first and second areas separated based on afolding axis of a foldable display. In case where most of a display isnot viewed to the user among the above-described various form factors(e.g., in case where there is no rear display in the in-folding foldabledisplay structure or in the dual display structure), the application isno longer displayed and may be operated in the background when theelectronic device is folded.

At operation 3440, the electronic device may generate and display atouch lock screen on the determined area (or portion). The touch lockscreen according to various embodiments has been described above withreference to FIGS. 10A to 10F.

At operation 3450, the electronic device may process a touch eventreceived from the touch sensor of the display on which the applicationexecution screen is displayed after the touch lock screen is displayed.The electronic device may release the touch lock screen in response to atouch event received from the display after the touch lock screen isdisplayed, and provide the touch event to a running application.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tovarious embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile communication device comprising: a firsttouch display forming at least a portion of a first surface of themobile communication device; a second touch display forming at least aportion of a second surface of the mobile communication device; and atleast one processor configured to: display, via the first touch display,a first execution screen corresponding to a first application that isexecuted while a state of the mobile communication device is in anunfolded state, and when the state of the mobile communication devicechanges to an at least partially folded state, display, via the secondtouch display, a second execution screen corresponding to the firstapplication continuing from prior to being folded and an image thatvisually overlaps at least partially with the second execution screen,wherein a touch input that is input on the second touch display, whilethe image visually overlaps the second execution screen, is notprocessed as an input on the first application, wherein the partiallyfolded state is an intermediate state such that the intermediate stateforms a certain angle less than an angle in the unfolded state, andwherein a folding area of the partially folded state forms a curvedsurface.
 2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to: control to cease todisplay the image on the second touch display when at least onecharacteristic corresponding to the touch input satisfies a specifiedcondition, and control the first application based on another touchinput that is detected on the second execution screen through the secondtouch display when the display of the image is ceased.
 3. The mobilecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the image includes anindication, and wherein the at least one processor is further configuredto stop the display of the second execution screen from the second touchdisplay when the indication is selected through the touch input.
 4. Themobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the image includes anindication, and wherein the at least one processor is further configuredto: stop the display of the second execution screen from the secondtouch display when the indication is selected through the touch input,and display in the second touch display a third execution screencorresponding to the first application that is executed in the at leastpartially folded state.
 5. The mobile communication device of claim 4,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: terminatethe execution of the first application, and execute the firstapplication again prior to displaying the third execution screen.
 6. Themobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to display in the second touch displayan indication corresponding to the first application as at least aportion of the image or as an image separate from the image.
 7. Themobile communication device of claim 6, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to display the indication at leastpartially overlapping the image.
 8. The mobile communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured todisplay in the second touch display an interface for receiving an inputfor releasing a lock state of the first application as a portion of theimage or as an image separate from the image.
 9. The mobilecommunication device of claim 1, wherein a first size of the first touchdisplay is larger than a second size of the second touch display, andwherein the at least one processor is further configured to minimize atleast one indication included in the first execution screen as at leasta part of displaying the second execution screen.
 10. The mobilecommunication device of claim 1, wherein a first resolution of the firsttouch display is greater than a second resolution of the second touchdisplay, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured todecrease a resolution of at least one indication included in the firstexecution screen as at least a part of displaying the second executionscreen.
 11. The mobile communication device of claim 1 furthercomprising: a housing including a first housing portion and a secondhousing portion, wherein the first touch display includes a flexibletouch display mounted to the first housing portion and the secondhousing portion.
 12. The mobile communication device of claim 1, whereinthe at least one processor is further configured to change and displayat least a portion of the second execution screen as the image.
 13. Anelectronic device comprising: a housing; a first display located on afirst side of the housing and including a first touch sensor, the firstdisplay being foldable; a second display located on a second side of thehousing and including a second touch sensor; at least one processorlocated inside the housing and operatively connected to the firstdisplay and the second display; and a memory located inside the housingand operatively connected to the at least one processor, wherein thememory is configured to store instructions that when executed by the atleast one processor perform operations of: displaying in the firstdisplay an execution screen of an application while the first display isin an unfolded state, detecting a folding of the housing, displaying inthe second display a touch lock screen in response to detecting thefolding of the housing, processing a touch event that is received fromthe second touch sensor of the second display while displaying the touchlock screen, and in response to the touch event received over the touchlock screen, displaying in the second display an execution screen of theapplication continuing from an execution screen state of the applicationprior to the folding of the housing, wherein the displaying of the touchlock screen is initiated when a state is changed to at least a partiallyfolded state from the unfolded state, and wherein the partially foldedstate is an intermediate state such that the intermediate state forms acertain angle less than an angle in the unfolded state.
 14. Theelectronic device of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed bythe at least one processor further perform operations of not providingto the application the touch event received from at least the firsttouch sensor of the first display and the second touch sensor of thesecond display between a time of detecting the folding of the housingand a time of displaying the touch lock screen.
 15. The electronicdevice of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed by the atleast one processor further perform operations of providing to theapplication a canceling event corresponding to at least some touchevents that were received from at least the first touch sensor of thefirst display and the second touch sensor of the second display andprovided to the application prior to the folding of the housing when thefolding of the housing is detected.
 16. The electronic device of claim13, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processorfurther perform operations of generating the touch lock screen based onat least a portion of state information of the application, and whereinthe state information of the application includes a security leveldesignated for the application.
 17. The electronic device of claim 16,wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processorfurther perform operations of: generating the touch lock screen with atleast a portion of the touch lock screen being a semi-transparent areawhen the security level is configured as a first level and displayingthe generated touch lock screen as an upper layer of the executionscreen of the application, and displaying in the second display thetouch lock screen including guide information for releasing a securitystate when the security level is configured as a second level anddisplaying in the second display the execution screen based on at leasta portion of a user input for releasing the security state.
 18. Theelectronic device of claim 16, wherein the state information of theapplication includes information on whether the execution screen of theapplication is resizable, and wherein the instructions when executed bythe at least one processor perform operations of: generating the touchlock screen with at least the portion of the touch lock screen being asemi-transparent area when the execution screen of the application isdetermined to be resizable based on at least a portion of the stateinformation of the application, and displaying the generated touch lockscreen as an upper layer of the resized execution screen of theapplication.
 19. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein, when thestate information of the application indicates the execution screen ofthe application is not resizable, restart the execution of theapplication.
 20. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the touchlock screen is based on state information of a running application.